The Chosen Savior
by TeenWolf4Life
Summary: Life as a wolf pack in Antarctica can be rough at times...oh, you have no idea. Join me, Tivean, a Beta in a pack called KlarraMonna as i try to live my life with a unique new skill.  But, with a storm that could wipe out all Antarctica on the way, can I?
1. Introduction

_**Introduction**_

4 YEARS AFTER THE BEGINNING

Paw steps thunder in my head, yet nothing at this point could stop me from blundering on through the icy white. White powder shuffles under my frantic paws, blinding my eyes and billowing up around me. My mind races from the day before, how I was forced to watch a death I couldn't help. Now, my single train of thought keeps ringing in my head. On voice, one sentence:

_Stay away from Talcar, stay away._

I tried to, I really tried.

I attempt to keep my balance through the slick snow and winding trees that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. Panic stricken and slowly weakening, I make my way, knowing that stopping could be a dangerous move at this point. At last, I move my head to the left to see a dark brown figure feinting between the trees at a brisk pace. Fearing one of Talcar's guards or treasurers had been closing in on me and I hadn't noticed, I quickly veer to the right, but soon catch a glint of a familiar golden eyes, and the brown pelt quickens as he makes his way around the trees closer to me. He turns to me abruptly as he races alongside me.

"Ruhan," I manage to gasp. He simply gives me a curt nod, then turns to face the trail ahead.

"Where's the patrol?" I bark loudly over our padding paws and huffs of exasperation. Before he can shoot out an answer into the night, multiple howls, yips and footfalls fill my ears and recognizable scents answer my question. A dark gray huff rears up on his two powerful hind legs and lets out a slight whimper of excitement as he drops down near Ruhan. A lighter yellow, thin but mighty, follows shortly behind. Nearing me, I can see a pitch black huff and beside me runs a pure white elegant motti. Her glowing amber eyes show she's ready to take on any challenge she is put up for, and the strength I've seen her produce shows her enthusiasm is not underestimated.

I feel a warming rush flow over me, covering me from muzzle to tail-tip at the strength of our pack. We are each other, working as one, because we are strong, we are willing, we are one. I have no doubt in my mind that this pack will succeed in this patrol battle. Why should I worry?

_Because of last time. Talcar is much too strong for you to handle, _I can hear my thoughts reminding me.

But I shake my head to rid of the criticizing idea. No, today I am a full fighter Beta and one of the best now. Especially with this newfound strength and undeniable power. All of our fighters are here on this patrol now: Andromache, Coriola, Eira, and even Krimmsenkel. We will not lose. I will avenge my father's death today, and only today.

My thought nearly consumes my so much I almost miss the leader's sharp howl to veer left, but I catch it just in time to see Ruhan dart to the leader's side. I look over and see Eira. The white fighter's eyes were wide and as I follow her gaze, my breath catches in my throat as well: Talcar's guards are nearing us, fast, and all six are barreling into the center of our pack.

"Split!" Eira and I screech in sync, and our pack obeys. Not quick enough, though.

A hard blow from a thin brown huff knocks the wind out of Eira as she claws at him on the ground. She lashes out at him, battering her claws at his stomach and nipping at his neck, but I keep on running with the rest of the pack.

Looking into the trees, I spot a large black huff, about twice the size of me, push out with his mighty haunches just in time to dodge inches under his talon- like claws. Instead, he continues in the air and aims for a different target, one running alongside me. Ruhan has no time to duck when the attacker's massive body collides with his, and Ruhan is thrown to the ground with force. That's when I skid to a halt in the snow and watch around me in horror as guard after guard of Talcar's takes out one of our patrollers easily. But we don't back down without a serious fight.

I turn back to Ruhan, who has pinned the black male on his stomach with no sweat, and is snarling viciously through a tuft of his neck fur. The black male twist and wriggles, but is no match for the claws digging deeper, and deeper into his skin at every turn. Eira is wrestling with a wolf about her size, a different one than the brown huff, now a very light gray motti. Blood has already stained both motties paws, and I spot a large gash on Eira's flank, a bad repair.

I turn my head and decide to help out a new Beta, Luthymo, who is at a stare down with the larger brown male. The way Luthymo's tail swishes behind him, I can tell he is very nervous to be in his first patrol fight. I lunge in nonchalantly and begin to growl menacing. He dives at me instantly and, surprised at the sudden attack, simply strangle him with my paws extended. By the way I fall, I can tell his mighty paws, though he is small in stature, can easily pin the strongest of Betas, like me. I twist and turn under his weight, growl and curling my lips as the brown huff keeps a firm hold on the side of my neck. I make one weak attempt to escape and rake my blunt claws across his chest, but he hardly seems to notice.

Twisting violently in the snow, a sudden steady trickle begins to leave my neck, and I can see through his grasp a smile forming on his lips. I won't give him that kind of satisfaction. But a stinging pain shocks my shoulder as it begins to grow numb and painful. I am about to give in, when a yellow flash shoots through the sky and slams hard into the brown huff's side, who now by the close up I can tell is none other than Rheptoclaa, and flips his sideways, crashing into the ice-packed earth.

As I stagger painfully to a standing position, a heavy force on my neck lifts me up gruffly by my scruff. I am left dangling painfully an inch above the blood laden snow, _my _blood, my paws scrabbling madly in the air. The jaws slowly began sealing my windpipe as they gradually got tighter.

"Come back again, Tivean? Here to avenge your father's death?" came a cold, hard voice in my ear. The voice you hear in your nightmare. The voice you hear that makes you cringe instantly. The voce that even the strongest of fighter Betas have a tough time standing up to.

_Talcar, _I conclude.

Quickly, I twist around in his grasp and lock my jaws into the side of his face. He growls instantly and releases me abruptly, as I fall to the ground. With a jolt, all the pain in my neck comes rushing back to me, but I try to ignore the nagging pain.

Then, without warning, he lift me back up and with a flick of his neck, flings me into a nearby tree. My jaw slams into I first and I can hear the grind of the bone colliding with the tree. Then my weakened paws crunch under the weight of the tree and my chest. My ribcage complains as the bones struggle to stay unbroken. And then I collapse in a heap of fur and snow, panting so heavy my breath never catches, sealing my eyes and curling my paws under my chest. Right here, in this puddle of blood that my neck and chest have caused, I feel safe, despite the agonizing pain. I would love to stay here, but I can't. So yet again, I struggle to my paws that are just barely supporting my weight, I turn my bloodshot eyes towards two fighting wolves.

_No more blood, no more fights,_ I complain in my head. But looking down at my paws, I see the bark of the tree has been severely smeared with crimson blood and the crushed snow is soaked with dark red liquid. So I turn back to the two wolves.

I glare through the slits of my eyes as I watch the brown and black leader of the opposing team. He storms over to a gray huff and his best guard, and clean yellow huff with a black muzzle and chest, Lartona, who is only stained with the blood of other victims, who are viciously locked in a jaw and claw hold.

Talcar sidles up to Lartona and thrusts him away with his shoulder, who simply unsheathes his claws and slides an inch away. Talcar turns to the gray huff, and lifts him up like he had done to me. The huff lets out a quick yelp and kicks out with his back paw, which catches Lartona in the jaw hard and knocks his head up. The crack it produces causes me to cringe.

Talcar races over to a nearby tree with the gray huff still lodged in his jaws, who I can now see is Coriola, and grinds him into a tree closest to me. I back away to avoid the fight, and horrendously watch blood instantly pour out of a shoulder wound. Coriola falls to the ground and I watch in horror as Talcar pins him, Talcar's head facing me. But I already see it in Coriola's eyes, he's slipping away.

Lowering his muzzle to Coriola's pointed ear, he whispers something before raising his muzzle back up and scoring his claws into Coriola's chest. Coriola chokes and fresh blood trickles from his mouth. I let a breath out and back away again, but my eyes are glued to him and his murderer. I gasp and that's he first time I notice the battle behind me has stopped. There is no sound except for the growling of Talcar.

Talcar gives one final blow to the side of Coriola's head and steps off. I can tell every eye is on either Coriola or Talcar.

No movement. No sound. The gray huff is still. He is dead. Yet another murdered by the villainous Talcar. But he's a leader, so he's virtually indestructible to defeat.

Anger and shock well up inside my chest. I prepare to lunge and claw at the mighty leader until he is shredded meat as his gleaming eyes penetrate me, but Cloyan, our leader, howls his warning.

"Retreat."

As Talcar's wolves and Cloyan's flee in opposite direction, and I turn around to face our distressed and upset pack, I take one final glance at Coriola, dead in a heap of blood, fur and snow, and Talcar the murderer.

_This isn't over yet, _I growl to myself. _My father's and now Coriola's deaths will be avenged. But your time will come. And when it does, I'll be there with bloodied claws and a revengeful smile._


	2. Early Life of a Special Pup

_**Chapter 1**_

**The Early Life of A Special Pup**

It had been one simple day that changed my life forever.

I never remember falling asleep last night. The excitement of the pack coming back with so much fresh kill sent every wolf into a frenzy. But I am only a young Kopahuff, or a male puppy.

Before we go into any detail, let's set down the basics: our pack talk. The gender names are huff for male and motti (mahtee) for female. A puppy is also called a Kopa (koh puh). If you want to say a male puppy, you would say a Kopahuff. If you wanted to say female puppy, you would say Kopamotti. At the age of 4 moons, or months, you are allowed to leave the PackGrounds to hunt, stalk and mark the borders with an older wolf from our pack. You are also given a special name: a Chinai (Chee n-I) All the wolves in our pack are also assigned jobs at a certain age in their lifetime. When they reach the age of 13 months, the leader assigns them one of three jobs. One is the hunter, another is a fighter and the last one is a gatherer, who would go out of the pack at times and fetch anything we would need except for fresh kill, such as flowers for remedies or grass, brambles and straw for bedding. Anything we needed, was brought by the gatherers.

If you exceed the leader expectations, you will become a Beta, or higher ranking wolf, with that job. There are fighter Betas, hunter Betas and gatherer Betas. Or if you do not do well, you would become an Omega, or a lower ranking wolf.

We also have one more… abnormality. There is a mythical legend that states one out of every thousand wolves is able to withhold secret powers to fulfill a task or destiny set out for them. We call that wolf the Chosen One. The Chosen One can have any super power to help him. znot an actual super power, but his stamina, strength, balance, and speed would boost. And he was unable to die until his destiny was fulfilled. But no one has ever seen a Chosen One in our pack, so our pack is slowly releasing the old myth. But as soon as I opened my eyes, and mother told me about it, I truly believed there was a real Chosen One.

One last thing. We are a pack called the KlarraMonna pack which means the pack of the clear moon in our language. We live in a normal spot in Antarctica where it is cool in the summer and cold in the winter. Our rival pack is named BirgitChima pack, or the pack of the bright sun. They are mean, ruthless and stronger. In my opinion, they are as fiery as the sun itself. We battle with them very often over little things like more territory, stolen fresh kill, and boundaries lengthened. Because of their "never give up" nature, we tend to do a lot of moving.

Yes that's right: moving. Leader and my parents say they've moved very often. Because the opposing pack will continue to fight us, we move to a different location after a war with them. It solves two problems. When our dens flood with snow and the elder begin to get cold, we can move and try to find a warmer hideout. Another is if we continue to move, the BirgitChima pack will have a harder time finding us, thus diminishing any plans of a battle temporarily. It also eliminates boundary wars. But they always come and track us down in about a month to three months time, and that's when the battles start up again, so we'd move again. My mother taught us a little secret as we went on with our lives, never, ever get attached to a PackGrounds, or you'll end up breaking your heart leaving it. So I agreed to only focus on what mattered. Besides, the heart of a pack lives in the wolves themselves, not the place they live.

So the basics are told.

Morning breaks through the clouds at last on a seemingly warm summer's day in Antarctica. Well, as warm as it gets in Antarctica at least.

Light from the sun peaks through the cracks of the bramble and thorn thicket of Rossaca's den. The warming rays of light awake me from my restful slumber, I raise my small head and utter a pathetic yawn. The rustling of the thicket awakens my young brother who sleeps close to me by mother's fur. He shakes his little head and smiles at me. His golden muzzle, like mine, reflects some of the sun's beautiful rays, and causes our fur to shine like gold. My sister, with her very light gray coat, almost white, and her golden muzzle yawns and opens her eyes to smile her usual smile at the both of us next to Saxin.

We are now awake for our third week, and have opened our eyes the eighth day. The days tick by slowly for us pups, because we cannot go out into the pack yet. Mother, Rossaca, must finish giving us the nutrients we need from her. But lucky for my brother, sister and I, we taught ourselves how to stand up. Now with a newfound strength and ability to see, we romp around the little nursery, sniffing new scents and yipping at the new places and sights we come across.

Today, I lay on my side and attempt to ignore the sun, but it soon blazes across me to the point of burn. Rossaca nudges us away from her warm belly onto the icy cold grass beneath us. I open my little round mouth and protest heavily, nosing my brother to chime in. Rossaca sighs and lies down while we crawl over and suckle quietly.

"You three are a handful," she whimpers quietly to us. But we don't notice. Instead we suckle all of the warm milk we can get before she goes out and leaves us.

I pull away before my siblings do, and watch them eat vigorously. Saxin is a smaller Kopahuff than I am, with a very light gray coat that sticks to his body, making him seem smaller and more vulnerable. With a gold muzzle identical to mine and a matching chest with milky white paws, he stands out from all the dark brown, black and gray wolves of our pack. I almost matched him except for one thing, my fur is darker and I have a small crescent shape at the top of my left hind leg. I guess it's some sort of special marking or odd birthmark defect. Either way, I know my brother doesn't own a crescent, nor does my sister.

Sooner than I had expected, mother breaks away from them and stands up.

"No more for you, Saxin," she barks soothingly and places her muzzle on the top of my brother's head.

"Saxin?" I squeal as I waddle over to my brother's side and help him up. "What does that mean?"

"Saxin," he replies. "My name."

"Oh," I say suddenly and sit down with a loud huff. "I didn't know that."

I have to remember that. Saxin is my brother's name.

A few days later, I hear a commotion outside the camp. Standing up to peer through the cracks in the leaves and twigs, I yip to call my siblings over. My sister gets up and rushes over immediately. My brother steps up groggily and staggers a bit before bounding playfully to my side. I smack him a bit with my paws much too big for me, indicating I'll grow into a well-developed wolf, hopefully a fighter Beta. Mother tells us stories of past wolves, and fighter Betas seem so… fascinating.

The commotion is actually the leader and Second Beta discussing a problem with the elders, how the moving around is weakening them, and is hard for nursing mothers and wolves ready to have pups. I happen to catch the end of the Gathering.

"…and with all the new Betas we are getting, the strong ones we have now and Omegas having a strong ability as well, we have no choice but to stick to our guns and fight back."

I step back as wolves howl agreement. I sit down and turn to Saxin.

"I think it's a smart idea as well," I bark. Saxin nods.

"This PackGrounds is the best we can afford for the moment. We have more fresh kill than we know what to do with. And the snow has melted over here, and the ground is warm. Plus dens aren't easy to come across and we have four."

That's when father comes in, and we turn to face him.

He pauses.

"You heard?" he asks.

We nod in excitement and he lolls his tongue out as he play bows, inviting us to bound around him.

"How long did he say we are staying?" Saxin asks finally as our father halts. A very dark siver huff with a pure white muzzle and blaze along with a white tail tip. Blue eyes look at us excitedly as he replies, "Cloyan said maybe closing in on 8 moons!"

I look at my father in awe. Sightre, one of the greatest fighter Betas. I get his bright blue eyes, dark fur and determination from him. Hopefully I can inherit his skill as well.

"Cloyan?" I whimper.

"Our leader."

And that's when my father looks down excitedly at the three of us.

"You are all bordering two moons now, right? Why don't you come out to meet the pack?"

Saxin and I gasp, and quickly Sightre noses an opening in the brush with his muzzle.

Immediately, I can see dark brown, pure white, gray and black wolves all gathering around. Sightre races around the other side, as I brace myself and dive through the opening. The hard-packed dirt protects my fall, but also feels strange on my tiny padded paws. My young, unused claws unsheathe and sheathe against the soil as barks and howls come from the pack. I look up to see all eyes on me, but their tails are wagging and their eyes are bright. Kopas are supposed to be sacred to the pack because that means more strong Betas.

And before I know it, I'm lifted up by my feeble scruff by my father.

My mother, Rosacca is by his side in an instant.

"The first-born. A strong huff. Tivean, with potential and determination."

As I am set down, I hear my name being called over and over by the pack.

_Tivean. Tivean, it sounds nice. It has a ring to it, I…I love it!_

Wriggling with excitement, I notice my brother hop out, and notice how the pack does the same for him. And as my father lifts him up and my mother barks, "The second-born. A lean huff. Saxin, with energy and loyalty," I notice two other wolves in the center, who seem more interested, looking Saxin up and down, the way he walks, his size, color, demeanor.

And finally, my beautiful sister, with her shimmering light coat, golden muzzle and bright eyes peers out nervously.

Sightre helps her out, holding her up so the pack can marvel at her amazing fur. She beams.

"And finally, our last-born. A sweet motti. Echo, with a heart and courage."

I smile as she is set down.

"Hey," a voice behind me barks, and scares me straight out of my fur. Jumping up and spinning around, I face a large wolf about a year older than me, with dark brown fur and milky white paws staring at me with an inquisitive look.

"You are Tivean, right? I'm Ruhan, I was just announced a hunter Beta." he barks, puffing out his chest.

"Congratulations!"

He looks at me, cocking his head and chuckles.

"I'm so sorry. Where are my manners? Here, bring your brother and sister over and I'll introduce you to all the Chinaies."

Nodding, Saxin, Echo and I trot over to a group of young pups, conversing and howling about something. Nervous as to how they would accept me, I tuck my tail and curl my ears flat to my head, a sign of admission. But the dogs all stop and each come up to me to greet me with a friendly wag of their bushy tails and a lick to my ear.

"That means acceptance," Ruhan informs us.

Before I know it, two wolves are approaching us, the two I noticed before. A tall dark yellow huff with a prominent black muzzle and bright eyes with a spring in his step. The wolf next to him was just the opposite. With dark eyes and a pitch black coat that resembled another on of the Chinaies, he seemed like a not-so-friendly wolf. His coat was thick and long, and scars covered his legs and neck. It was like a wolf right out of a horror scene.

"Hello, Chinaies and wolves to-be. How are we?" asks the golden wolf, nodding his head and smiling at us.

"Fine," a black and brown huff barks, and the other wolf growls.

"Well, I'm just checking in."

And with that the two wolves are gone. I turn to Ruhan, who takes a deep breath and turns to Saxin, Echo and I.

"The friendly wolf was our leader, Cloyan. The black wolf is Omatri. He's the Second Beta. He's nice once you get to know him, but…"

"Rough on newcomers," finishes the black wolf.

"It wouldn't hurt to be on his good side," Ruhan informs.

"So…" Saxin says. "About the Chinaies."

"Okay, that's Ckarggo," he says, motioning to a thick, very dark brown huff with a black muzzle and a tan tail. He seems like a tough dog, but instead he nods his head.

"That's Krimmsenkel," he points to the pitch black wolf with amber eyes. I smile at him and he gives me a curt nod. I take a step back into Ruhan who chuckles.

"Don't take it personal." My sister chuckles as well.

"Ttrowlaa, the water freak," Ruhan teases towards a dark gray huff, who happily races over to the four of us and wriggles around. "He's also not a Chinai yet, and will be at the ceremony with you."

"Pleasure to meet you?" Saxin says, turning his muzzle away a bit.

"Well, it _is _a pleasure to meet you," says the gray wolf, as he turns back to the others.

"And finally, Plutarch, who is being watched by a guard, so he is getting the best protection. He's also not a Chinai yet."

A light yellow and white huff nods a simple nod and smiles. With a white muzzle that went into a collar and white chest, and a vanilla tipped tail, he seemed like a well-developed wolf. The only thing was an unkempt tuft of hair on the top of his head. I glance at it and he chuckles.

"Please, don't look at it. My mother tried… but, I just hope I'll grow out of it."

My sister smiles and slides over to him.

"It makes you look unique," she says without thought and he beams at her.

"Echo," she says and he licks her side.

As Ckarggo, Krimmsenkel, Ttrowlaa, Ruhan, Echo, Saxin and I sit around together, I feel a sudden rush of gratitude. I finally have friends, friends I hope I can rely on. But as I look around at the dark brown, dark gray, dark brown and black, and pitch black newcomers, I feel as though I'll never have to second guess these wolves.


	3. First Time Out

_**Chapter 2**_

**First Time Out**

I was right. Every day, I would sit around the fresh kill pile with Saxin, and one by one the five others would come to sit by us. Ruhan and I had a secret connection as did Ckarggo and Saxin, but all in all, we were the closest wolves. Day by day, we would stick together, practicing hunting and stalking and fighting, and before we knew it, Saxin, Ttrowlaa and I were preparing to become Chinaies, for Krimmsenkel and Ckarggo were already assigned caretakers as Chinaies and Ruhan was a Beta wolf. Echo was preparing as well with Plutarch.

I stand erect in front of my mother as she quickly strokes my head fur down. I can feel her shake with excitement as she tries to calm herself to finish.

"I just can't believe it. My boy is growing up to be a Chinai! Oh, it seems like just yesterday."

I shake my head and she paws my head to keep it straight. But I pull away just in time to avoid another strong lick. As I growl a protest and shake all her hard work away, she reaches out and slides Saxin over, who groans as she begins again.

I look over at the other end of the PackGrounds and spot Echo prancing around Plutarch's den, while his mother coos and licks down his fur. But when he notices me watching, and his small tuft of hair flaps up, he smiles nervously. Echo turns to face him, licks her paw and strokes it down. The mother and father pause for a moment and howl quietly when it sticks.

"Can I go see my friends?" I bark.

Rosacca sighs and nods.

"If they're not too busy."

And with that, I was off, tearing through to see Ruhan, who was batting at a leaf on the far side of the PackGrounds.

"Are you going to watch me become a Chinai?" I yip, hardly able to contain myself, and he sits up, rolling his eyes as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Of course. You're my best friend!" he growls and pounces on me in the dirt. We roll around for a bit before the leader and deputy step up in front of us. Ruhan and I look up simultaneously and quickly get up to a sitting position.

"S-sorry, Cloyan," Ruhan stutters and I can only barely nod.

"Oh, don't be sorry. I'm just letting every Beta and Chinai know that the ceremony has been moved from this sunset to a few minuls (mine uls) from now."

And before he leaves, I cock my head in confusion.

"Oh, pardon me. In our wolf language, secos (say c-oh-s) means seconds, minuls means minutes and horrus (oh rus) means hours. Sunrise is day. Sunrise pack is a week, moon is a month, moon pack is a year and lifehtio (lif eh tee oh) means lifetime. Oh and sunrise is morning and sunset is nighttime. Do you need me to repeat anything?"

Thinking everything over, I seem to remember all of the jam-packed information and turn to him to shake my head vigorously. He smiles and barks.

"This ceremony will be big with over seven wolves turning. But I'll make sure you get a great wolf caretaker."

"Oh, you don't need to do that," I sigh.

"Well, that's my job," he says.

"Oh, then I guess you kind of have to, huh?"

He nods.

"Well, I'm ready," I say nervously, wondering if turning into a Chinai changes the wolf itself.

"Oh good, well then, come along."

He turns and expects me to follow.

"Where's Omatri?" I ask suddenly. He looks over his shoulder at me.

"Rounding up all the other preparing Chinaies. I just have to pick up you three."

And with that he turns and walks towards our den. Assuming the 'three' is Saxin, Echo and I, I follow to find I was correct.

Butterflies flutter quickly around in my stomach as I attempt to calm myself before the ceremony.

Within an instant, all the Betas are grouped by a mound in the center of our PackGrounds with Omatri and Cloyan seated at the top. We are authorized as the main part of the ceremony to walk down the center of the group of wolves, with an opening for us to walk up to the mound.

As I walk down the aisle slowly next to Saxin, I see Plutarch yawn nervously next to me. Quietly I whisper, "It looks great." He smiles and shakes his head to show it stays.

Before we arrive at the mound, Echo pushes me aside to lick Plutarch's face. He turns his head and nuzzles her, then she backs up in the row behind.

As we arrive, we are in rows of two, Saxin and I in the front, then Plutarch and Echo, Ttrowlaa and another gray and white wolf behind them and finally two other wolves, a light gray wolf and a light brown wolf. Saxin and I are up first, and as we take a seat in front of the mound in the aisle, I turn to see I've taken a seat right next to Ruhan. He winks at me and I shift my paws nervously.

The leader looks up to the sky, and to my relief, it's going to be a full moon tonight, the nights of good luck. I sigh again and hope for a good wolf caretaker.

"StarMoon, our wolf moon beliefs under the watchful eye of the Sirius star have seen what these wolf pups can do. Now after 4 moons, we are ready to give up the pup nursing den and move on to better and stronger tasks. Under the careful guidance of another prepared Beta, I am ready to hand these pups over to the pack."

The pack begins to howl until the leader turns to Omatri, who nods.

"Saxin, you have been given Docko as your wolf caretaker. He will guide you in the ways of becoming a strong wolf and a great addition to this pack."

Docko stand up and pads over to the mound, a large longhaired black huff with a white muzzle, chest and paws, where he grips Saxin's scruff in his jaws. Saxin collapses to the ground and Docko releases and steps back as Saxin lowers his head in front of him. Saxin and Docko side step to where Rosacca and Sightre stand on the other side of Ruhan. Now the line next to me is Ruhan, Rosacca, Sightre, Saxin and Docko. I know I'll be sitting in the row behind next to Ckarggo.

"Tivean," the leader begins again, and it jerks me into consciousness. As I stand erect before him, he speaks.

"You have been given…Ruhan as your wolf caretaker. He will guide you in the ways of becoming a strong-willed wolf and will most definitely be a great addition to this pack."

Surprise shoots prickers up my spine as I turn to my closest friend, who is now my wolf caretaker.

When our eyes lock, I can see he is more surprised than I am, and struggles to a standing position.

When he stands in front of me preparing for the ceremony Chinai/Beta acceptance, my paws begin to shake and he leans down and grips my scruff. It isn't tight, but without hesitation, I lay limp in his grasp. He releases as beams at me. I lower my head and smile, knowing Ruhan as my caretaker will be perfect. Cloyan smiles and nods, giving us the 'okay' to leave. As we walk passed my parents and Saxin, they all beam at me.

I am a Chinai, an official wolf of KlarraMonna.

Ckarggo congratulates me as we take a seat next to him. I watch curiously as Plutarch and my sister approach the mound. Plutarch receives Gharv, as he already knew and Echo's caretaker becomes Pentoga, a light yellow mottie with a unique white muzzle.

I sit in silence until Ttrowlaa has gotten his caretaker. A light gray motti with a pure white muzzle and paws stands erect in front of the leader, smiling with beautiful pearl white teeth and an untouched bushy tail. The way her sea-blue eyes shimmer with excitement and her tail swishes with nerves, I knew right from the start that she was different. I guess I had been staring at her for quite a while, because Ruhan nudges me heavily in the side and I shake my head vigorously.

"Hey Ruhan," I finally whisper. He turns my way and howls when they announce Mayhopa as her caretaker. A light gray motti with darker unique splotches and a white muzzle streaked with a dark gray approaches and follows the code of Chinai.

"Yes, Tivean?" he says, suddenly turning his attention to me. I glance over at the new Chinai once more before responding, "Who is that?"

"Who, Mayhopa?" he asked, stunned. "She's a friendly Gatherer Beta."

"No, no, no, I mean the new Chinai…" I say and suddenly can't take my eyes off of her shimmering coat.

"Ah, Bayya. She's very beautiful indeed, and a great pick if you're asking for a mate. She's super friendly and with a nice coat and a nice attitude to add to it, I think she's just your type. But how are you just going to talk to a motti you like just out of the clear blue? Yeah right, Tivean, try again when you've had experience."

I huff. I don't need to hear Ruhan saying I can't talk to a motti . Er…at least… I can try to talk to her.

And that's when she walks around and sits beside Ruhan. Ruhan looks down at me and winks, sliding over next to Ckarggo and leaving me sitting next to her. She turns to me, smiles, and turns back.

"Uh…hi, Bayya? I…I'm Tivean."

She turns to me and cocks her head.

"Tivean, huh? Hey, I know you, I was your littermate!"

"Y-you were?" I ask, thinking I'd clearly remember a beautiful wolf like her being a littermate of mine.

"Yeah, I came over to say hi. But your mother said you were quite shy."

I nod, obviously surprised I was talking to her. "Well, I am shy, but I think you're referring to my brother, Saxin. I'm actually quite adventurous for a pup."

"You are, huh?" she asks.

"Yup, you know, my father was a fighter Beta and he tells me I'm following close in his footsteps," I say, standing up to puff out my tail and clench my paws in the dirt. She stands up nose to nose with me and smirks playfully.

"Oh yeah, well, both my mother _and _father were fighter Betas and I'm following closer in their footstep, so I guess I have a higher chance of becoming a fighter than you."

I sit down and shake my head firmly.

"Oh, yeah, we'll see about that."

I suddenly hear Ruhan's surprised sigh behind me and I smirk, knowing I'm doing pretty well with this talk. She sits down parallel to me and smiles her friendly smile.

"Okay, how about this afternoon, just you, me, and the hunting grounds. We'll see who's better."

I nod, agreeing to battling with a motti.

I turn to face the leader, and Ruhan sighs again.

"How did you do that?"

Without looking over at him, I smile and reply, "It's all about the Tivean charm."

And when the ceremony had ended, and Ruhan, Echo, Saxin, Bayya, and Ckarggo had left, I throw my head up in the air, howl in excitement, and bark, "YES!"

"No!" my father growls a few minutes later. "You are way too young to leave the PackGrounds."

"But dad!" I growl back menacingly. "I'm 4 moons old, I'm practically a Beta, and I just turned to a Chinai. I have Ruhan to look out for me. Let me go!"

He lowers his haunches a bit lower, lowers his head and snarls heavily.

"I am _not _letting my son go out into the woods at a young age," he rages. As I sit down angrily, I smell Ruhan's scent wafting closer, and swivel my ear to hear him padding up behind me. I chuckle as he barks, "It's okay, Sightre. He has to get out and see the other areas of our territory anyway. Let him go with me for a bit and I promise I'll have him back by caribou horrus."

Sightre growls, tensing his muscles as he looks from me to Ruhan and back, and finally relaxes. Sitting down, he lowers his head.

"Okay," suddenly he snaps his head back up, with a wild look in his eyes. "But if _anything_ happens to him… I'll rip your throat out!"

Ruhan takes a pace back and nods, and in moments, Bayya, Mayhopa, Ruhan and I were on the trail to the fighting grounds.

"Ha! Fourth time in a row! Who's winning, Ruhan?" Bayya's voice rings out through the treetops. I lay nervously under Bayya's unsheathed claws. Flat on my back, she presses her muzzle close to my face and smiles before she gets off.

"Bayya is," Ruhan sighs dully.

"Looks like you need some practice, Chinai," she boasts, prancing around me.

"You're a Chinai too," I say. "And I haven't had training yet."

"That proves you need it," she says.

Suddenly, my inner true wolf kicks in, and I side step, nip her side and spin on my front paws to face her, growling. She looks at me alarmed, but soon drops into attack mode as well. We stare each other down for awhile until she dives at me. I swiftly dodge to the right, roll over quickly, get up and dive at her with unsheathed claws, pulling her down to the ground in a heap of paws and fur. She struggles to free herself, but I grab a hold of her scruff and manage to pin her. She looks up at me with surprised eyes and I smile.

"Who needs the training, now?"

Her surprised look vanishes and is replaced with a look of joy. Ruhan and Mayhopa look to the sky and sigh.

"Time to get back, Chinaies," Mayhopa barks, and howls loudly, signaling to the pack that we are returning. Ruhan and Mayhopa gallop back to the path before we do, and I slide off her quickly, waiting for her to walk by my side.

"You were very good today," she says.

"Uh, you too," I smile. She looks at me the same way I looked at her at the ceremony and the butterflies in my stomach are set free.

_Does she like me? Does she really like me?_

As we walk back behind Ruhan and Mayhopa, I look ahead to the path. And suddenly, Bayya leans over and licks my cheek.


	4. KlarraMonna Land

_**Chapter 3**_

**KlarraMonna Land**

"Really, dad?" I bark excitedly the following day. I yip and wriggle my tail as my father sits down, swishing his tail over the dirt ground. It had been a few weeks since I had first met Bayya, and instantly we bonded. We ate our kill together, slept in the same bed together, and practiced fighting every other day. If Bayya couldn't go to the fighting grounds, I wouldn't go when Ruhan called me. At one point, she had fallen ill and I stayed in her bed and comforted her, and the following day, she was happy and healthy again.

"Well, I figured since Ruhan is out on the hunting party, I could take you out into the forest, you know, to show you around."

I jump up. Sightre pads over to the PackGrounds entrance and turns around to look at Bayya. She beams and nods and hesitantly, I turn to my father. His excited look excites me again, and i blaze past him. The only other time I went out of the PackGrounds was to hunt, and that wasn't that far off.

Outside, I notice the trees thick and rich with fresh new leaves. As the tree leaves sway with the warm breeze, and the soft grass tickles my paws as I walk, I feel compelled to this place, as if I know I should be here. The snow has melted and in fact, has been gone for about a month now. Mother calls this time springtime. I'm not quite sure what it means, but whatever it means, I know that mother said springtime is when everything is born. New wildlife are born, trees bloom with fresh green leaves, and the grass grows up high and clean. I love the warmer airs now, and am excited to feel the summer.

As I pad on through the forest, I gaze high up to the treetops, where small birds flutter overhead and small wispy clouds float in the bright blue sky.

My father pads up next to me and tries to keep pace as we look around.

"Glad to be out?" he guesses.

"The PackGrounds is nice, but I'm glad I get to see this. It's such a wonderful time of the moon pack."

Sightre smiles and licks his muzzle.

And before long, I halt in my tracks. Ahead of me dark, thick-leaved trees are tightly packed together and short, dense grass covers the forest floor.

"Okay, the surprise I'm going to show you is just up ahead. I'm going to go around these trees on the right flank, but I am confident you can make it through this."

I nod, and look ahead into the brush. I take a step back and gulp heavily.

That's when I turn to see my father's graceful silhouette trot passed a bush and disappear.

When I turn back to the wooded area, my tail halts and I cock my head.

_I am a Chinai. I am not supposed to be afraid of anything. The wilderness is afraid of me._

As I try to calm myself, I close my eyes as a cool wind breeze swipes through my fur. I figured the faster I run and get it over with, the faster I can get through the ominous wooded place. I look down at the green grass and take a step towards the darker area. And that's all I need.

Suddenly, I'm sprinting through the trees and brush at top speed. Only once to I lunge majestically over an uprooted vine, but quickly begin to race ahead.

I can feel my paws propelling me forward through the gorse brush and scratchy twigs. My paws feel as if they know where they are going, as if I had come this way hundreds of times before. My tail flags behind me and the wind brushes through my fur. My eyes focus on a small opening in the trees. I don't feel my breath shortening, only the fluttering feeling in my chest.

_This must be what it feels like to be a true wolf. To be free in the wilderness. To feel exhilarated and excited after every hunt. To rush though these woods and be free of every worry._

Soon, I burst through the tunnel and race up a small rocky incline. What I see catches my breath in my throat.

I stand on a tall cliff with jagged foot holes down the slanted slope downward. Below me, a long grassy field lights up with the dew of the new sun. Paths trekked out by wolves of our PackGrounds weave through the grass and few beautifully full trees dot the field side.

My eyes shine with excitement as my paws grip the edge of the rock. Paws beginning to shake, my father appears around the dark trees on my right. I tunr to him in amazement.

"I-I…never knew…it's so… how did you not tell me?"

Sightre chuckles and pads up the rock beside me.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," he says, sitting beside me and gazing out over the land with pride. I sit down next to him, father and son, one wolf who has lived and defended this land for ages, and another starting that journey today.

I look down at the left flank and spot a herd of grazing caribou. When I turn my attention a few inches over, I see a ground op wolves huddled in high grass. I soon recognize Cloyan, Omatri, Rossaca, Ruhan and another gray wolf I learned was Gharv. I nudge my fathers side and point my nose in the direction of the hunting party. As my father watches with interest, the five wolf burst out and charge towards the caribou. I see their target before they attack, a young caribou with an injured leg. Instantly, all the wolves are upon it. Cloyan lunges for the neck, latches on, and the calf collapses. As soon as it falls, the five wolves lunge onto it, tearing it apart quickly.

"The wolves don't catch it and eat it there without sharing it with the rest of the pack, do they? I ask in surprise, and to my relief, Sightre shakes his head.

"The wolves each separate the prey into sections so they can carry all the meat back to the PackGrounds. Notice how Cloyan has one leg, Rossaca has another, Ruhan has two, Omatri has the top half and Gharv has the bottom? You carry a certain amount based on your strength. They also break it apart so it is easier to haul back and they can defend themselves. If they all help out carrying it, it would be difficult to maneuver and would be hard to drop if they had to fend it off, and then lift it back up."

I nod, interested in the ways of our pack.

Sightre suddenly takes a deep breath and begins. "Would you like to know about the two packs?"

I turn to him as my tail shifts excitedly.

"Well, our pack, KlarraMonna, is a pack known for their determination and loyalty. We are strong not because of our strength in battles, but because of our strength in friendships. We take in any wolves who need care because we believe every wolf needs a second chance. We have many wolves that have changed our lives during our battles: my father, Andromache, Omatri, and even Rosacca. As for BirgitChima, they are a gang of ruthless, heartless wolves who only care if their wolves are strong enough to win in battles. They kill wolves if they aren't good enough and only take interest in a wolf if they truly are vicious. They won't take in wolves, but instead cast them out. You won't find a single wolf born in BirgitChima that is friendly, alll the good wolves either fled their PackGrounds, are killed, or move here. And Lartona, their deputy is the most vicious of them all. He'd kill any wolf if ordered and loves to spill blood. I don't know what happened to him as a Kopa, but it sure made him messed up. And his leader, Talcar, just stay away from him. If Talcar ever went one day without killing an animal, or threatening a wolf, or trying to kill our patrols it would be a miracle."

His name, Talcar, just hearing it made the fur stand up along the ridge of my spine.

"That's why, though, we have so much land. Because our strength is the belief that we can do well. We are fed and trained well. In BirgitChima, they don't take care of their Chinaies and don't feed their Betas properly."

"The land…it's…it's unbelievable." I whisper.

And as we sit there, a flock of small blackbirds throw themselves passed us and spread out over the land, coming from somewhere over our heads. Silently, they part and disappear. My father turns to me.

"Yes, Tivean. This place is unbelievable. But let me tell you something my father once told me when I was a young Chinai just like you."

He then turns to back to the land, looking out at it all as he spoke. Instead, I gaze at my noble father, watching as his dulling eyes burst with life as he spoke.

"'The land is beautiful, but the most beautiful part about it is it ours. Only passion will keep it that way, though.'"

As the words sink in, I shift my paws, realizing how huge the responsibility of becoming a Beta truly is, if it is our duty to protect the land we live in.

"Basically," he says, turning to me once more. "he's saying that this land belongs to the wolves of KlarraMonna, and the wolves to come. But in order to keep it, we must defend it."

"But not everything is bloodshed," I say quietly. Knowing not every wolf would chose to fight over land, and spill unnecessary blood.

"No," he says. "it's not just about battles. We must always keep the grass fresh with the kill we take down. We must keep every tree standing with our claw marks we produce. We must keep every path available with our treading paws. Tivean," he says. The way he speaks my name, with a slight quaver in it, I turn to see his eyes dilated and quivering.

"When I die, tell your Kopas about my noble father and I. Never forget we made this ours."

The way he spoke crushes my heart. As though he thought I'd forget about him.

"Of course," I say, showing it in my voice that it was clear I'd never forget, despite anything in my life. "I'll tell my Kopas you were the strongest and bravest wolf alive, and you took after your father, who brought this land to us."

The way I spoke, I knew that was the truth. My determination made him growl in approval and he leans over and licks the top of my head.

"I'm very glad to hear that."

As we sit in silence atop the cliff, he turns down to me and says calmly, "I never want to leave this land. This is the land my father saw last. He was killed in a heavy battle with BirgitChima and his last words to me were 'This land is special. Good things will happen here, I can feel it under my fur.' And from then on, every time the leader announced we were going to leave, I'd always stand up to protest. We have had enough fresh kill, there is not a heavy winter, the dens are warm and large enough to fit every wolf inside, and it is away from the BirgitChima territory. We've been living here for about a year now."

I smile, and as I look out at the land one last time, I feel a rush of something… something unidentifiable, as if his father were right. Something good will happen in this land, and that something will change the lives of every wolf living on it.


	5. First Patrol Surprises

_**Chapter 4**_

**First Patrol Surprises**

My father glances down at me, and with a smile, stands up and paws my side. I turn to him who chuckles at me. He stands up erect, shaking the gravel from his silver coat.

"It's time we head back to camp. I think Clo-"

"I can take him back," comes a voice from behind us. Sightre and I spin around abruptly to face Ruhan, head cocked and tail raised higher than his head.

"Well," father says apprehensively.

"Dad," I groan and hop down off the rock to stand under Ruhan's front paws. "He_ is _my caretaker."

Sightre sighs and smiles down at the two of us.

"I know. You two have fun." And with that, Ruhan turns tail and bolts through the dark trees and tight bushes. Caught quickly off guard, I whip around and dart into the trees. My young and undeveloped paws struggle to keep up, resulting in stumbling over every uprooted branch and broken twig. Before long, I can only see the dark tip of his tail bounding into the shadows. I make a harder effort to keep up, pouncing in large strides to cover the leaves felled by Ruhan's quick lunges. I dodge an outstretched branch and duck under a low hanging vine. Soon, I make one final effort and dive high up through the last of the trees, stumbling and rolling into the bright sunlight. Leaves scatter my furry pelt and dirt covers my rushing paws. Laying splayed out on the dirt floor, I pant heavily, my tongue rolling out of my mouth as it vibrates with my rhythmic panting. Glancing up at Ruhan, I notice him sitting erectly on a rock, with untouched fur and even breathing. I struggle to a standing position on my exhausted paws and glower at him.

"Come on," he says, leaping off the smaller rock with ease as he strolls around me. "If you want to become a Beta, you have to run with the big wolves."

I lean my muzzle over to nip his pelt, but he trots away just in time. He turns his head over his shoulder and smiles at me, and I trot to his side. We walk at a slow enough pace that when I begin to walk by his side, I am able to catch my breath.

"So, you saw the view of the field side?" Ruhan begins, attempting to make conversation.

The excitement flows so quickly through my young body, I am almost at a loss for words.

"I didn't think we lived in such a beautiful place in Antarctica." I say.

"Well, the greatest part about it is every wolf that is born in KlarraMonna is born into the great lands of our territory. That is why we must keep it safe from any others."

I nod.

"And in the winters, the untouched landscape covered in a blanket of pure white snow is the most breath-taking sight."

I look up at my caretaker. He's seen thing I haven't been alive long enough to see, but the way he can describe something, I feel as if I've already witnessed it.

"What happened on the hunting patrol?" I ask confused. He nods and turns his head to face the dark trees as we walk ahead.

"Well, we have to make sure we skin every part of our kill away so the Scavengers of the Sky don't come, take the food and decide to stick around when we hunt. Because if the birds eat our food, then they would swarm us. Also, if the birds fly overhead waiting for us to kill our prey, it would warn the herds when they call for the other birds. That why we attack any that come near."

I cock my head.

"Such a sharp way of letting them know you don't want to share."

Ruhan swishes his tail and tries to suppress a laugh.

"Yeah, but the point is, it works."

As we walk on, I look up at him, his strong muscular build, strong gaze ahead, padded paws that have trekked on ice and grass for what seems like a lifetime. I couldn't have asked for a better caretaker to guide me in his pawsteps.

He looks down at me, and I suddenly look away. Chinaies and Omegas are not allowed to look higher ranking Betas in the eye, it's a sign of dominance.

"Your father told you of his father?" he asks. I nod slowly.

"Well, you're very privileged to have such an amazing wolf in your family. You're practically related to a hero," he says as we walk slowly on through the forest. "If it wasn't for you father's dad's bravery and strength, we wouldn't be in the position we are in now."

I pause in my footsteps, and look up at the sky, then raced on ahead.

"Did you ever meet him?" I ask, thinking that an older wolf than I had to have seen him. But, to my surprise, he shakes his head.

"No, I was born two days after the battle that had killed him. But I heard stories from the leader and Sightre."

I smile. When I look beyond Ruhan to the forest on my right, I notice we had already passed the camp entrance and were heading close to the fighting grounds. Although, if we kept on this straight path, and did slope to our right, we would pass that as well.

"Well, what about you, you must have someone in your family that is a hero, right?"

Suddenly, I hear Ruhan give a small growl and his small slow strides quicken to a brisk pace, his head lowered to the earthen floor.

I hop to his side.

"We don't talk about my family," he growls, hardly audible. I lean my head close to his.

"Why, they can't be that bad."

And out of nowhere, Ruhan jerks his head up, swings it to the left and right, then swiftly grips my scruff and dives through a red berry bush on our left. Setting me down, he clambers on a fallen log and lowers his head.

"Hey! What was that for?" I snarl as I pad crossly to the log.

"Just making sure no one can hear us," he whispers, and curiosity gets the best of me. I struggle heavily onto the log next to him. Lifting my hind paws onto it with all my strength, I manage to get myself up onto it. As I lay on the it with my right paws over one side and my left paws splayed out on the other side, I huff heavily.

"And you couldn't grab my scruff and bring me up _here_?" I growl sourly, struggling to balance my four paws. When I sit and look up at him, expectantly, he takes a deep breath, glances at the morning sky and begins.

"When my father first met my mother, everyone knew they were perfect for each other. They were meant to be together. When they mated, my father had wanted three Kopas, but instead she had four. He was so overjoyed, he turned to the leader. Back then, they were the closest friends. He wanted a separate den one night when one of the nursing Betas fell ill. He demanded she was given another den before her and the Kopas fell ill as well. The leader denied, and my father became angry, keeping his mate safe from harm. Eventually, a battle stirred between KlarraMonna and BirgitChima, and two of his Kopas were sent into battle, being only four moons old. Sadly, the two of my littermates were killed in that battle. Because of the leader's choice that sent his Kopas into battles, he became furious upon words, and refused to do anything for the leader. Then, one day, he left KlarraMonna and became part of BirgitChima." Ruhan paused, cringing and finally taking a shaky breath, lifting his head a bit.

"He became stronger and more violent. My mother became depressed because of the loss of two Kopas and her mate. Out of that depression, she brought the other Kopa into the woods and drowned him, for he reminded her too much of her mate. That was my last remaining littermate. She came back saying he was trampled down by the hunting grounds, but Cloyan knew the truth. By then I was a Chinai, and soon figuring out my past, but never knew I had other littermates because I never grew up with them. My caretaker, Kova, took me out of camp and we ran away for a bit together. She told me life in camp was too harsh for a wolf like me at this time. I accepted the fact, and when we finally came back, my mother and leader fought often. She ran away one day to follow her mate, but surprisingly was rejected. About seven moons went by since the first day my father announced four Kopas were born, and I was becoming more aware of life. My mother came back from a patrol one day with a puppy the same age and size as me…and announced… it was my brother. He hadn't died. She was still depressed and mean, and my brother with so much pent up rage of trying to be killed and abandoned, that _he_ killed our leader. Of course, the deputy, Cloyan, exiled him and he headed to BirgitChima. He soon became part of their pack and in battles, was said to be one of the strongest Betas they had. My mother fell into a deeper depression and snapped at everyone. After a sudden battle, her sibling was killed, and that was when I told her I would never leave her, and I'll always be there for her. The way she looked at me, the way she was so close to snapping and becoming insane, and I was the only one to save her… well, I'm just glad to have her. She knew that she would have at least one wolf looking out for her forever. My mother… she's… she's Pentoga."

I freeze.

"Yes, which means I am your caretaker, and my mother is your sister's caretaker."

I nod, and he cringes heavily, as if debating whether to tell me something, and I nuzzle into his fur to comfort him. Instead of continuing, he tenses up and hops off the log, causing me to try and catch my balance, but instead falling head first into a patch of dirt. I stand up and shake the dust from my nose. When I look at Ruhan, I notice his tail is down, ears pricked, head cocked slightly with a blank stare. And that's when I hear it: a faint howl fading into the distant. I pad up to his side as he lowers his head to mine.

"Another patrol?" I ask, and he nods slowly, quickly scooting under a nearby bush. I crawl in under it next to him, and as turns to me.

"Okay, this will be another lesson. Follow me and do what I do, okay? This is to make sure we don't get caught."

"Why?" I whisper. "This is our land…" Ruhan turns to me slowly.

"Yeah, but Talcar isn't the nicest wolf when it comes to patrol meetings."

And with that, he darts out of the bush and races for the nearest tree. I rush out on his tail and catch my first whiff of BirgitChima scent. It smells musty and hard, a scent opposite of ours. I didn't smell the grass or even fresh kill on them. It causes me to wrinkle my nose up and shake my head.

"Closer to me," my caretaker whispers to me from behind and I slide closer to his pelt.

As we ease closer to a long bush, I get closer and closer to their scent until we pass by an open space and I could see them: large, heavy-set paws with a muscular build and dark eyes. There are three of them, two large wolves with a strange entity to them, which I can only describe as nervous, and a third dog, about the size of me with pure white fur and golden eyes that dart nervously back and forth, as if she expects a giant wildebeest to dive out of the bushes at her.

"Keep close," Ruhan whispers, and I suddenly can't take my eyes off the smaller Chinai. I watch her for so long that I nearly stumble over a root, but Ruhan shoots out and grasps my scruff dragging me into the bush. I shake off the sensation and focus on Ruhan's stern gaze.

"Stay close, how easy can I make it?" he growls quietly, and as we begin to crawl under the safety of the bush, leaves begin to brush my nose swiftly and when I emerge into the open again on the right side of the threesome patrol, the strong scent of their musty odor hits my nose much too fast, and I sneeze loudly. Ruhan whips around quickly and is suddenly shoved to the ground, rolling around and around. Another dog jumps in the air in front of me and I can hear Ruhan's voice from the fighting session.

_Don't forget, with wolves that are much larger than you, use your smaller size as an advantage. Go for the underneath rather than the pin._

When his shadow consumes me, I dart forward, and he crashes heavily to the ground, but quickly regains his footing and charges for me. I charge at him as well but when I get close, duck underneath him and head butt his chest, sending him side-stumbling to the ground. I jump onto his stomach as he lays on the grassy ground on his back. My tiny, yet strong paws grip his shoulders as I snag his neck in my jaws and snarl.

That's when another smack hits my side and I tumble off him in a heap of fur.

"Lartona!" Ruhan growls suddenly, and I look up to see the pure white dog on top of me. She is a motti and she chuckles.

"Not so good at fighting. Must watch _all _your sides, genius." and she hops off.

"You're Lartona?" I ask as I shake off leaves from my pelt, remembering what my father had said about the vicious, ruthless Lartona. She chuckles.

"No, my deputy is."

And that's when I remember father telling me about Talcar and Lartona being the top wolves in the forest. I turn to see a tall and vicious tan wolf thrashing his tail in front of Ruhan. But compared to Ruhan, that dog was smaller and skinnier, and Ruhan was growling louder than him. And that's when I see it, his claws are triple the size of an average wolf and his two canines in the front of his mouth are sharper and already dripping with blood from Ruhan's shoulder. I trot over to Ruhan side and sit when Ruhan does. The white motti and the gray wolf I had pinned before walks slowly to Lartona's side.

"Ah, brother," Lartona barks at Ruhan and Ruhan sighs heavily.

I freeze. Lartona… Ruhan's brother… that means when he said his story… Lartona was the wolf that turned… evil.

"That's it?" comes Lartona's sneer, looking down at me. "That scrap?"

"That scrap is my Chinai," Ruhan jumps to my rescue as he closes in on Lartona, but he hardly flinches. I, on the other hand, lower my head guiltily.

"Oh, I'm so scared, a weak Chinai no bigger than a hare and my brother who would never dream of even breaking another wolf's skin. Nice one, bro, nice one. You haven't changed a bit."

Ruhan breathes heavily in Lartona's face until Lartona shoves his paw into Ruhan's chest and he sits down.

"You best be getting out of our territory," Ruhan says and looks down at me, motioning with his eyebrow to say something.

"We have reinforcements right behind us if a weak patrol like you even dared to show up around here," I snarl and the gray wolf shifted his position a bit.

Lartona shut his eyes and shrugged.

"It was getting boring here anyway." And with that he stood with the gray huff and left.

"That's it?" I gasp. "Your brother was right there and you didn't tear him apart? Are you that scared?"

Ruhan glares down at me and sighs, loosening his gaze.

"It's not like that. He has more power and he could kill me."

When I look at where they were, I am shocked to see the motti had stayed behind and motions towards a bush when Ruhan wasn't watching her. I look up at Ruhan.

"Why don't you head back to camp without me. Er… I'll be right with you… I forgot… to mark one tree over there when Sightre brought me out here… and he told me to make sure I did just…that."

Ruhan nods to me slowly, clearly not paying attention to me whatsoever, but watching as the two huffs trot off. Then, he turns and walks off in the other direction.

"Don't be long," he calls.

I wait to see that he won't look back and dive through the bush near a tall oak tree.

"Hey," I say to her.

"Hi, I couldn't help hear that your caretaker was our strong deputy's brother."

I nod, looking her in her bright amber eyes.

"You know about your deputy? He's not that much of a 'good guy'." I say, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong way. Instead, she nods and sits, lowering her head.

"I know. He's killed our own packmates. I don't know why I was born into such a violent pack. I want to be in a pack where there are no thoughts of battle every day, and wolves work together to do great things. I hear _your_ pack is nice." she says dully.

"Yeah," I say cheerily.

"You know," the motti says, standing up and wrapping her tail around my nose as she circles me slowly. "You fought pretty well," she says, licking my muzzle. Suddenly, I can feel my ears becoming hot and my paws couldn't feel the ground. A Chinai… likes me? And… she's not so bad… friendly, beautiful, wants to be in a pack with me.

"W-well, I…" suddenly I was at a loss for words and she looks at me, stunned, as if she were just seeing me for the first time. She cocks her head.

"Are you alright?" she asks, and I struggle to nod. Suddenly, I puffed out my chest.

"I'm the strongest Chinai in my pack."

"Really?" she asks, surprised.

"No." I say, lowering my head.

"Well, hey, I don't care if you're the worst fighter…"

"Well, thanks, because I might be…"

"…I like you for you. I saw you around when you fought with that other wolf, and I…um…I kinda…you know…I like you."

I freeze. Woa, woa woa, a motti that's not crazy, and she likes me? And I feel something for her?

"Well, your… I like you too," I say.

While I try and take my eyes off of her, I hear a voice in the distance.

"Tivean! Let's go! Caribou horrus!"

I turn to her quickly.

"By the way, my name's Eira, and you must be Tivean."

I feel my ears heat up again, and I nod. "Yeah."

"Well, hey, after Caribou horrus, why don't you meet me…near the stream? At near-tree time, okay?" she asks. She looks at me and when I nod, her face brightens up.

"But you have to promise." she says sternly.

"I promise," I say without hesitation, and know I've just made a huge mistake. I'm sneaking out of my camp to meet with a Chinai from another pack, when I already am in love with another Chinai from my pack. But I know we can be friends. Leaning in, she licks the side of my face and I bolt out of the brush.

_By the stream. By the stream. By the stream. _I continue to say to myself.

_Don't forget._


	6. Horrible Ways of Pack Life

_**Chapter 5**_

**The Horrible Ways of Pack Life**

"…and Tivean." Cloyan's voice rings out through the PackGrounds as the announcements ends. My heart drops to my paws.

"What?"

"Hey," says Ruhan encouragingly. "This will be quick. Don't worry. It's your first battle, you should be excited to show off your skill."

But that didn't help me as I sit with my back to the large rock.

"Okay," he says slowly. "This is only a territory battle. It's the quickest battles there are. Basically this battle is set up with the leader's choice patrol of six wolves including him and the deputy. The goal is to fight until one wolf is unable to fight due to an injury. Our strategy is to gang up on one wolf until he forfeits."

"So there are no serious injuries."

"Not if they don't want to," Ruhan says.

"How does it work?" I ask, still a sick feeling deep in my stomach.

"Well, we both meet up at a designated point and fight. It's simple and no one has ever gotten any life-threatening injuries, scars or died."

I nod, feeling a bit better about the whole ordeal.

"So who'll most likely be there?" I ask suddenly as we head to our dens to rest before the battle.

"You and I, of course, Cloyan, Omatri, Andromache and Bayya."

When I heard Bayya's name, I gulped heavily. Just the thought of Bayya getting hurt made my sick feeling come alive.

As we climbed into the den, I felt a movement beside me and looked over to see Bayya smiling through the darkness. I lean over and lick her face as she crawls over me to rest next to me.

"We'll make it through this battle," she says soothingly, as she begins to lick my ear rhythmically. "We are strong together, don't worry."

As I struggle to keep my eyes open, I whisper softly, "I don't want anything to happen to you."

And just as I close my eyes for the night, I remember.

_By the stream! Eira!_

The morning brings well-rested fighting dogs and an excited leader to pad his paws out of the camp. I quickly step into line as Ruhan side-steps next to me.

"Omatri says this is going to be such a simple battle, because they already planned out their strategies."

I sigh a relief as Bayya trots toward me.

"We are going to be just fine in this battle," she says and nuzzles my face. I lick the side of her face as she stands close to me.

"I won't let anyone hurt you in this battle," I say, letting my imaginary rage flood through me, visualizing one of their wolves coming close to her.

"Yes," says Cloyan as he approaches Ruhan, Bayya and I. "I think it is best if you two work together in this fight. You are a perfect match and are great fighters."

"Remember your strategies," Ruhan says as Cloyan walks up to Omatri and Andromache. "We didn't train you for nothing."

I nod, and cock my head.

"But… what battle move can I use if I'm much weaker and smaller than the wolves he'll use?" I ask, beginning to get nervous. Bayya, sensing my nerves flood through my fur, presses her flank against mine and rubs her head and ears into my shoulder.

And that's when I see Andromache for the first time. A tall, lean black wolf with fur like Saxin, but sticking thinner to his body. A dark tan muzzle and paws accompany the dark color and his bright green eyes blaze with the excitement of battle.

"Use the duck-under-pin." he says, crouching in the grass. "Bite their jaws, slide under their stomach and head-butt, then pin them. It's much easier to use if you are a Chinai. Use your small size against them."

"But I don't think…" and suddenly I am shoved heavily to the size as I slide in a dirt area, spinning to face Bayya as she darts at me and nips my jaws heavily. I swing my head away from her as she crouches and quickly slides under my stomach, pushing her head onto my upper stomach, so I stand on my hind legs. Catching me off guard, she shoves my shoulders down with her paws and pins me. Smiling her usual smile, she lowers her head close to mine.

"Does that answer your question?" she asks, and licks my muzzle quickly before returning to the line.

"No space for slip ups," Ruhan adds.

"No slip ups here," Bayya barks excitedly.

"Nor here…in the battle," I say, still on the ground.

"This is your first battle?" Andromache asks me as I roll onto my stomach and stand up shakily. Shaking my fur I nod.

"Yes, why?"

"I remember my first battle like it was yesterday. When I was in my first battle, I didn't slip up that much. I teamed up with another Chinai and worked together to attack a certain wolf on the other side. We felt so accomplished when the other wolf backed down. May I add a simple word of advice: if there is a Chinai, which I doubt from BirgitChima, then defeat it, you have the power in you, I can feel it. If not, work with Bayya and work as one to attack a Beta. Trust me, you'll be glad you worked together."

I nod and turn to Bayya.

"You don't have to ask us," she says, swishing her gray tail behind her as she kneads her paws in the dust. And Andromache smiles as he pads back into line in front of us.

As Cloyan walks down the line once more to see every wolf where they should be: Omatri in the front, Ruhan and Andromache next, Bayya and I and finally Malliscy in the back, I open my jaws to speak and Cloyan halts next to me.

"Answer me one question, why is my caretaker coming and not Bayya's?"

Cloyan looks at me.

"Because we only take our best fighters for the occasion. I see you and Bayya have passion and strength, and Ruhan and Andromache are our best fighters."

"So that's why Saxin's not coming," I ask sadly and cast a sad look at him as he sits next to Ruhan and my den with Sightre, Docko, Echo, Pentoga, Plutarch, Gharv, and Rossaca. He nods his head slowly, and I can tell he's hurt; watching hus brother go into his first battle without him. That's when I feel Bayya nudging me forward and the line moves to the entrance. She nips my ear playfully.

"Good luck," she whispers.

"Good luck," I whisper back and with that, Cloyan howls, a howl that echoes off the treetops and is followed by all the wolves in the PackGrounds, except Bayya and I. There is a wolf ritual that says when a wolf becomes a Beta, that's when it is allowed to bay their first howl.

In an instant, our group is off, racing through the woods at top speed and before long I'm lagging behind trying to keep my paws steadily on the pace. When Bayya notices me slacking off she slows her run to catch up.

"How do you… run so… swiftly?" I question through huffs.

"Try closing your eyes and being the forest. Feel the ground beneath you and act as if it were you, feeling the rhythmic flow of paws pounding your surface."

I trust Bayya with all my heart and being, so I shut my eyes and concentrate on paws thundering. Soon I feel the vibration flow through me and suddenly feel the urge to dodge right, so strong that as I continue to run, it compels me and I dodge. I snap open my eyes and look back to see a large rock in the way that I had dodged.

"See!" she barks excitedly and rushes on ahead.

"What! So I close my eyes?"

"I close my eyes in order to see!" she calls back with an odd poetic flow to her words and I shut my eyes, following the scent of my pack and my instinct.

Sooner than I had thought, I hear the thundering paws suddenly ceasing. I open my eyes to see me running parallel with Bayya, her eyes wide open. Cloyan, Omatri, Ruhan and Malliscy are all by our sides, we had run like a panned-out group rather than a dog-sled formation. Cloyan and Omatri step up and look around at the designated spot.

"Where are you Talcar? Were you scared and decided not to come?" Cloyan was teasing loudly through the forest. "Because my wolves know chickens from wolves, and we can smell chicken all around us."

By then, the wolves had all gathered behind Cloyan, and a rustle on our right sparked Cloyan's senses.

"Ruhan, right flank!"

Quickly without thinking, Ruhan lunges his body to the left and backs up. Crouching in a defense position, Lartona dove from a bush, outstretched claws diving for Ruhan's unmoving body. But Lartona didn't suspect Omatri to dart sideways and jump at him from the side heavily, knocking the wind out of him as he and Ruhan lunged on top of him.

"Bayya, left flank!" came the second command, and I was shocked to see how fast she darts to her left.

"What do I do?" I ask quickly, nervous at my first attack.

"Get him by the throat. I have defense."

That's when I see it, the gray wolf accomplice Lartona had. He snickers and races at me. I race at him as well, and I lower my head, preparing for a head-butt. He locks his shoulders, preparing for a counter head-butt. When I get close, I dodge quickly to the right and grip his side in my claws, knocking him over out of shock. Bayya quickly lunges at him and lands on his stomach heavily. She grips his neck and he grabs her leg, spinning over, causing her to flip on her back with her in his grasp. Letting go of his neck, she gasps.

"Tivean!"

Quickly, I dart. Rage building, I grab the side of his face hard in my grasp. That gives Bayya enough time to scoot out from under him and lunged onto his back, keeping steady by gripping his shoulders and biting his neck with a firm bite. He turns to face me, who is standing up in attack position.

"Bayya, I'm going to do the strategy move. You need to jump when I tell you."

The other wolf glowers at me and I head-butt his jaws up, feeling it was more effective when I hear a bone-crunching pop, but continue on. I slide under his stomach and hold back for a split second to howl, "Now!" and shoot up as hard as I possibly could. His muscle was hard on my head, but I guess I shot up just hard enough, because he suddenly reared up and collapsed down. I saw Bayya land and climb onto his stomach, snarling into his face. He struggled to kick her off with his hind legs, but she continued to bite down harder on his neck.

I turn around to see Andromache swiftly darting back and forth, biting two wolves as he jumped. Cloyan and Omatri fought side by side against Lartona, and Ruhan was being sized up by two larger wolves.

_One, two, three, four, five…five? What about…_

And that's when I see the leader for the very first time. An enormous pitch black wolf emerges from the bushes and I swear, Omatri, being one of the biggest wolves in our pack, looks like a newborn Kopa compared to him. Ears erect like pine trees, eyes dark red with fury, claws like razorblades preparing to strike, and muscles tearing out of his forelegs. He walked slowly to the center and turned to see his gray wolf pinned by a Chinai.

When Talcar first made eyes contact with me, that very first time, I knew that he was one dog not to be messed with. But something clicked with him and me that very first day, on my very first battle. Like, he was every wolf's worst nightmare, but he was my battle. Only I could stand up to him.

Anger pulsed from him as he made his way to us. Looking down at me as I look at him, knowing right away that he knew I had something burning inside. I wasn't an ordinary Chinai, but I backed away anyway. He walks up to Bayya and the gray wolf. As I dart off, I expect Bayya to follow, but to my horror, she stays put.

"What are you doing with my Beta?" his voice was deep and angered like the true voice of the devil. After he spoke, I realize Bayya and I were the only two close to him, and the battle that had once brewed behind me was now silent, watching the large wolf's every move.

"Afraid I beat him?" she growls to his face.

"Bayya, come here," I whisper to myself, hoping she would stop, but instead, she crouches down and launches herself at him.

Worst mistake of her life.

Talcar, preparing everything out, waits until she is centimeters from his face before opening his jaws and catching Bayya in his jaws by her entire head. He lifts his head up and throws her heavily to the floor. Gasps of concern wave through the wolves behind. I take a step closer, rage and fear emanating off me.

Her eyes flutter open, and I watch her, with teeth marks ringing her neck and her muzzle dripping fresh blood. But here eyes blaze with anger and she rakes her claws across his nose with all her remaining strength. He backs up suddenly shaking his head, and all the stories I've heard about him, seeing him in person pinning the wolf I love above everything, it's my nightmare and a half coming true. Something I'll never live down.

I know if I don't act now, I'll never see her again.

I take another step.

"Leave her alone," I growl as menacing and as steadily as I could manage and before I can lunge, Ruhan darts past me to save her. With a flick of a black paw, Ruhan flies backward, slamming his body into a nearby tree and laying motionless underneath it.

Turning back to Bayya, I lunge, leaving my nerves behind, and seeing and acting with my heart. I grip Talcar's head in my claws and bite down with all my love for Bayya on his neck. Blood swells up in my mouth and spurts out the sides of my jaws. The crimson red liquid pools on the floor around Bayya and she struggles to be free. The first metallic taste of blood sends my senses wild and I slide my claws down to grasp his shoulder, opening up another gash on his shoulder blade, hoping he will back up away form her.

But he doesn't.

The fresh scent of meat stings my nostrils and the strong taste of blood burns my tongue, but I hold on tightly. Suddenly, I feel a jolt and am suddenly torn off of his shoulder and thrown heavily down to the ground. My mind spins around and around and I can just make out the blurred picture of Talcar standing over Bayya, who is yelping in fear. I can still taste the blood running from my lip and can see the enormous gash on Talcar's shoulder, a gash with blood pouring out the side from an open flap of skin. I look at my blood-stained paws splayed out and unmoving. Black fur stick here and there in the mess of red. When I struggle to stand, I find I can't, the pain in my side seizes my body. I can only watch helplessly as Talcar staggers back to Bayya, lifts my first mate into the air by her neck and lets all his anger out. The blood spews to the ground as he drops the corpse of what used to be the only dog I cared about to the blood lain floor. He turns to his wolves, who stalk into the forest, leaving the shocked KlarraMonna dogs alone.

"No!" I howl and struggle again, this time succeeding, and ignoring the pain. I stagger over to her body that has welled with blood around her neck.. Eyes shut and paws gripped, I know she had died a fighter. A fighter who sacrificed her life to keep me out of danger.

I crouch by her dead body, feeling wet trickles fall from my eyes.

"It's alright." I say quickly as sobs rack my body. "I said nothing was going to go wrong. This battle took you away from me. I promised you we would work together till the end, I just never thought the end could come so soon. I'm so sorry, my love, I'm sorry. I wanted to let you know I always loved you and could never love another wolf like you ever again."

As I lay there by her broken body, I wrap my tongue continuously over the blood, cleaning the wound that had killed her. Shutting my eyes, I continue to lick the blood clean near her wound until I hear pawsteps and look up to see Ruhan.

I look up with hurt eyes, and struggle to a standing position in front of him. By now, I am convinced I had broken a rib or two.

"I'm so sorry, Tivean. It's the way of life. Talcar is a ruthless, cruel demon with no intention of apologizing."

The fire in my eyes dies away, and as I sit there, Ruhan steps a bit closer to me.

"We have to get back to camp. It's Talcar's fault and you can't stop him."

And that's when I found my snapping point. Every wolf has to snap and go insane at least once in their life, and mine, to be surprising, was quite early in my life. I look up at Ruhan as the fire returns stronger now. It's not the battle fire, but a new fire that I accept with open paws: revenge.

"No! Her death is your fault!" I hop up, my fur puffed up as my lips draw back in the beginning of a snarl. Glaring directly at Cloyan, I let all the fire flood out. "This is your fault, Cloyan! _You _sent her into battle, you sent her right to her death!"

Cloyan takes a step forward, hurt flashing in his eyes.

"Tivean, I'm sorry. I-I had no idea she would…"

"No!" I snarl in pure rage. "It's all your fault! I hate you all! How can I forgive a pack that brought my mate into a battle to _die!_"

And with that, I turn tail and flee into the woods, accepting the pain that rushes through my body as my paws rush faster on the forest floor, accepting revenge, the strong revenge for more of Talcar's blood staining my paws.


	7. Answered Prayer From Sirius

_**Chapter 6**_

**Answered Prayer From Sirius**

I didn't know where I was headed exactly, but my paws seem to follow a certain trail. As I barrel on, the pain ceasing and strengthening at times, causing me to stumble and lose my balance, my nose suddenly fills with two scents: crisp cool water and a musty odor only described in one way.

My tears had streamed away by now and as I dove through a bush, I thanked my paws ten times over.

_By the stream! _I think as I gaze at the cool icy blue water rushing off the shore through tear-blurred eyes the same color. I look at the long strip of fresh green grass by the water and a white wolf laying there, head down on her paws, looking into the still water with a tail just as still.

"Eira?" I choke out and at my voice, her head snaps up and she looks at me as if I were unreal. When her senses snap, she beams.

"Tivean!" she says, springing up as we rush at each other, touching muzzles quickly as we intertwines tails and close our eyes in the blinding sun. She pulls away and smiles, though her head lowers.

"I heard about the battle and hoped you weren't in it."

Then she shot up and licked my nose, not even trying to hide her excitement.

"And I didn't think you would come!"

When I notice her excitement, I try to hide the cruel fate of a few moments earlier, but it just depresses me. Eira catches on and cocks her head.

"What's wrong?" she asks sympathetically.

"W-well, you know Talcar… he… it was… she…" and I sigh. It was harder than I thought to tell someone.

Taking a deep breath I break it down and reply: "My closest friend, you could say mate, was in that battle fighting side by side with me, and Talcar killed her in front of me."

As I finish the sentence, I find my throat closing and I choke out the final words. I lower my head as a fresh batch of tears stream down my fur. Suddenly, I jump at an all too familiar feeling. Jerking my head up a bit, I notice Eira licking my ear. Only Bayya had done that, and the calming sensation numbed the pain.

"It's alright," she coos and as I lay down next to her in the grass, she continues to lick me in a slow, methodic way. "I'll always be with you. No one can hurt you when we are together." And as I look into her sympathetic gaze, she says, "I'll always love and protect you. I promise, from this point on, I will never leave you, not for anything."

She stops licking my ears and looking into her soft amber gaze, I could tell this BirgitChima wolf was here to stay.

I turn to her and soften my gaze.

I struggle to a standing position and find her shoving me up. Walking on battered paws, I lower my head to the stream and slowly, painfully lap my tongue into the ice cold surface of the water. The icy grip of it bursts my body to life and helps the pain of both sorrow and external injuries heal.

I look at my reflection in the blue water, and notice a scar on my muzzle, straight across my nose. When I lower my nose close to see it, I jerk back when I see my reflection ripple against the circular currents. Suddenly another ripple of waves over from the left causes me to look over and see Eira lapping at the water a few paws away.

She looks up at me, water dripping from her nose, and puts a paw in the water, shoving a wave of water my direction. It splashes into my fur and as it drips, I sputter and chuckle. Se laughs and dives at me, catching me off balance, and I fall into the current-less water. Before I do, I grip my paws around her neck and pull her in with me. Clearly unprepared, she shrieks and paddles frivolously to stay afloat while I bob carelessly. She paddles over to me and lays her paws onto my head, soaking my head once more. Pushing my ears down, I look up at the heavily dark clouded skies as a single raindrop falls onto my nose with a splatter. I look down at the water to suddenly see several tiny bombs hitting the water around us with such force, it sends droplets flying everywhere. I look at her with a look of irony, and she rolls her eyes, shoving her paws down hard, sending me swirling underneath the water. My paws can't catch a break as I struggle to the surface, paddling mindlessly in the water. I break through the surface, sputtering water onto Eira's already sodden pelt with the rain pelting down heavily, bouncing the water around us and bringing the normally silent forest to life with the loud patter of rain pounding the leaves and water.

Quickly, I paddle out of the river and haul myself weakly out onto the bank. Shaking off the rain and river doesn't make any sense because of the driving rain, but is simply a second nature to a wet wolf. Eira licks a raindrop that falls from my ear and catches it right above my nose. She then motions to a tree with a wide hollowed out bottom. It is large enough inside for Eira and I to fit standing up and also laying sprawled out. The tree is surrounded by a circular bush filled with dripping leaves.

Rushing quickly to it, I lunge through to the hollow inside and scratch a hole in the dirt, shaking off once in the dry area. Eira pads in slowly on drenched paws and shakes off, too quickly for me to protest, wetting the walls and my finally dry pelt. She lies in the hole I had dug for her and licks my nose as I stretch my muzzle to reach her. Then I turn to the hollow entrance and reach my head out to grasp some of the pelted, soaking leaves, trying hard not to let the prickly branches scrape the inside of my mouth too roughly. I snag more than a mouthful and as I turn into the den-like area, my mouth ices up with the cold water dripping down my throat. Shaking my head vigorously to dry the leaves, although small droplet of the rainwater spew everywhere, I manage to hold onto a pile of semi-warm leaves, where I place them all around Eira. She nods her thanks as I struggle out into the rain again to take another mouthful of icy leaves and shake my head, that was beginning to spin, finding these leaves were much damper. I sigh in annoyance and drop them onto the floor. Looking over at Eira, I notice she is fast asleep in her pile of dry leaves and not-too-deep hole. I suppress a smile and dig up another hole about a wolf's tail length from her. My claws refuse to dig up the hard-packed earth, and my cold paws struggle against the cold. Finally, I manage to slide my claws out enough and scrape at it roughly enough to make a hole just about the same size. Nuzzling the rest of the leaves into my hole, I spin around slowly on still battered and crisp paws, I flop down in the bedding and lay my head down between my soft belly fur and curled paws.

Suddenly, I hear a soft sound near me. Instead of lifting my head to see where the sound was coming from, I simply swivel my ears in the direction of the sound. I hear the crunching of leaves and the soft pad of paws as they get closer. That's when I feel the smooth fur rub against mine and go still.

After a few heartbeats go by, I look over my shoulder to see Eira has moved all of her leaves around me and found herself sleeping back to back nestled in my soft silver fur, resting her head on her paws fast asleep. I smile as I lie down again. Just as I was going to close my eyes for the night, I hear her sigh contently. As I recap the whole day in my head within a few seconds, I sigh as well.

And as we lay there, side by side, I feel as though I can actually live my life without Bayya.

Morning sun peaks through the bush surrounding the tree and sunlight pools in small areas in the hollow. I open my eyes groggily and roll over to face Eira, who is in the sleeping position, but with her eyes open and alert, focused on me.

"Good sleep?" I ask as she struggles up to a sitting position.

"Yes. And you?" she asks in her usual soft tone. I nod, preparing for the standing position. But the pain comes quicker and catches me off guard. I stand up abruptly, attempting to stop the pain, and surprisingly, the pain ceases.

"We-! Should be getting back to our packs, shouldn't we?" I ask. I had felt the pain jab me heavily when I had said 'we' and when the pain died away, finished my sentence.

Eira hunches over to scratch her ear vigorously. She then looks up at me and, with a smile, shrugs.

"I don't know," she says calmly.

"Well, don't you think our packmates are wondering where we are?"

She stands up and looks around the hollow, padding around it. I keep a close eye on her and she begins. "I run away from the pack often. They don't miss Chinaies, they hardly miss Betas. They only care if they are strong fighter, but even if they are, they don't pay much attention. BirgitChima doesn't' care if they lose wolves, they only care if too many are lost."

She ends up an inch from my face. I take a single step back as she sits down. I lower my head and reveal a smirk.

"Oh, well, I didn't realize how cruel BirgitChima, my _opposing_ pack, really was," I say to her, making sure to put the emphasis on 'opposing' to let her know that we weren't supposed to be away from our packs together. But she hardly seems to hear me, as she falls into the hunters crouch and dives through the bush, sending a shower of leaves falling around her as she lands. I crouch and duck under the bush, making little noise as I step behind her. When I go to say something else, I notice she is transfixed on something on the ground, and when I scent the air, all I can smell is a musty odor. And that's when I remember the scent: swamp!

I look over her shoulder at a small green animal that when it stretches his back legs out, he lunges a great distance about a tail's length from Eira's nose. I lunge back in alarm, but she doesn't even flinch. Tail down, she swishes it once, and outstretches her claws, pinning the animal between her paws. She gently picks it up in her mighty jaws and turns around to show me, dropping the dead animal on the grassy ground in front of me and her.

"It's a frog," she explains. "It's what's all around our territory. We use that to disguise our scent."

I nod.

"I've noticed," I mutter.

When she swipes the animal away, she nods slowly.

"We should be getting back to camp," I repeat. This time she makes eyes contact with me and smiles.

"You're right. But we have to make another time. How about… two sunrises from now… at… sun-up. Yeah, that way it'll be earlier and we'll have time to wrestle and play," she says, dropping into the hunter's crouch. I nod.

"Okay then," I say and as we head our separate ways, me going north and her going south, I turn to her.

"Safe trip," I say. "Hope you don't get scolded as hard as I'll be."

"Yeah, have a nice trip back, and try not to cry," and with that, we were shooting for our camps, praying we'll make it out alive.

When I head into camp, no wolf senses my arrival. At east, until Ruhan whips around and trots over to me.

"Where have you been? I was looking for you all morning!"

I jerk my head up.

"Sorry, Ruhan, but I went out with…" I quickly scan the pack and see Saxin sitting alone a deerling length from me.

"Saxin! Isn't that right?" I say, sidling up to my brother. He looks up abruptly.

"Right?" I say smoothly. "Didn't we go out early this morning on an adventure?"

And without hesitating, he stands up and nods.

"That's right. I told Tivean that I saw something awesome down near the cliff rock and I just had to show him. We did it early so we wouldn't have to miss any hunting parties. Sorry if we misbehaved." he says, and my love for my brother grew. Ruhan shakes his head.

"No need. Your parents said it was alright to venture as long as you two were together."

I nod. "Of course. We were together the whole time."

Ruhan nods.

"Well, hurry up with what you were doing because Cloyan spotted three BirgitChima wolves on our side of the hunting grounds. We have to get there fast," and Ruhan turns quickly to Omatri.

"Thanks, Saxin, I owe you big time."

But he just shakes his head. Ruhan whips around to me.

"Do I have time to eat?" I ask, remembering just how long it had been since I had last eaten. Ruhan cocks his head to one side, then the other.

"It'd be best if you munched on the caribou after this," and by the way he was speaking you could tell he was in a hurry.

Suddenly, Omatri streaks past us to the entrance, turning back.

"We have to hurry!" he barks and zips out, with Ruhan and I on his tail. We threw ourselves through the woods until Omatri stops to sniff and decide where we actually were. I took that time to catch my breath, running with the big wolves was still a bit difficult for me. When Omatri found the path, we race on at a much slower pace, a fast trot for me.

That's when I notice we were coming up to a bush that was hauntingly familiar and as we brush through it, I see we are at the streamside. My heart pounds as I attempt to keep calm.

"And this is where Saxin and I went," I say abruptly, hoping I could say it before my scent caught in his nose. He nods.

"I smell you but not him."

My mind floods with thoughts until I could pick one out.

"That's because… we were playing a game… where I had to hide his scent with the forest… and the goal of the game was to keep his scent hidden," I say coolly under pressure. "So, if a strong, skilled Beta like you can't scent him, then that's a good thing."

And when he turns to the trail, I let out a silent sigh.

As we get closer to the lake, Omatri a pawstep from jumping, he freezes in his tracks, looks around and drops down into the thin grass. Although anyone could obviously spot him, Ruhan and I copy.

"Keep quiet! Do you smell that? BirgitChima scent, and it's fresh, like they just passed by," he says and I could feel Ruhan tense next to me.

_Think, Tivean, think! _I thought, hoping they would move on.

"Well," I say. "Maybe a rabbit or frog from their territory came into ours and the scent rubbed onto our leaves." I guessed, but Omatri shook his head doubtfully.

"It would smell like fresh kill, and it only smells like their wolf scent."

_Okay, another idea._

"Well, maybe the three wolves trod on our territory from north side to use the rocky cliff as a way to get there faster."

Omatri nods.

"Could be, but that would be a much longer short-cut, unless they wanted an easier way to get to it instead of the large cliff in their territory," Omatri said, more to himself than us.."

And with that, we were off again, lunging over the streambed and rushing through the forest until we appear at the dark forest part yet again. My heart pounds with catching my breath, not fear this time, and when Omatri takes the lead inside, I didn't hesitate to lung in. Before long, we were at the Cliffside. Omatri looked out and studied the open landscape of the hunting grounds. When I spot the three wolves crouching near a herd of wildebeest, Omatri pins his ears back and dove down the cliff, running as if there were no footholds or jutting rocks. Ruhan slide on the sides of his paws, dodging every so often and regaining his position. I, on the other hand, used the jutting rocks to bound down with ease, until towards the end, I couldn't. Omatri took a lunging leap over the rest of the two deerling length, landing on his forepaws and making it look simple. Ruhan attempts to jump but stumbles down a bit. I chuckle as he stands up. Finishing off the last jutting rock, I bark, "You need to learn how to land."

And ironically after, I didn't notice the final foothold and drop my paw in it, sending me somersaulting into the ground near Ruhan.

"And you need to learn how to stay on your paws."

Soon after, Ruhan freezes, sniffing the earth underneath him.

"The BirgitChima scent isn't here," he says suddenly.

"Maybe they didn't come this way." I say.

"But they must have, because of the scent up there," he protests.

I shake my head. "They could have taken any route other than this one."

Ruhan looks at me strangely.

"Have you done this before? You seem to know all the answers."

I shake my head swiftly.

"Nope never, but you're thinking of one-way things. I'm thinking of all the possible outcomes and ideas. Remember, there are a lot of other paths they could have taken."

Ruhan smiles and scratches the top of my head playfully in his paws.

"That's my Chinai."

I beam when we begin to take a path that leads us vertically to them. It was many, many deerling away, and enough so they couldn't sent us. But we were watching them. All three were sizing up the herd, and Ruhan turns to me.

"Okay, here's another training exercise. Remember, this is our land. They can be on it as long as they don't fight or hunt. If they crouch down and go for the attack, all of us have to chase them down in order for it to stay that way. Never, ever miss. If I order you to go, you always head for the animal, or you will miss. Don't ever go for the wolf, promise? If you go for the wolf itself, you will misfire and the pack will hunt. Your goal is to drive the pack away from the herd. Only then can you chase the wolf away."

"So, go for the wildebeest until the wolf goes another direction, then chase that wolf away?"

"Precisely," Omatri whispers.

I crouch down lower in the grass, trying to seclude myself, and as they ease us closer, we all bunch our muscles, preparing to lunge when they did. But as if they knew we were here, they relaxed and shifted position often. I lower into position, flexing my claws, muzzle curled to show my glimmering teeth. My tail swishes uneasily behind me as I take a step forward. A sudden rush of excitement sweeps over me, but something more than just that. It was almost as if I was given power, too much power to control, and I tried to calm down and take a shaky breath. Ruhan, who I had forgotten was crouched next to me, places his paw on my side.

"Woa, Tivean, you're shaking! Calm down."

But when I turn to him, it was very hard to control myself.

"I can't," I whisper in a voice that wasn't mine.

_What's happening to me?_

Omatri's ears suddenly prick as I caught the fresher scent of BirgitChima. My power was suddenly amplified and the pain suddenly grew to a piercing. I cringe and swing my head around, trying to rid of the pain that was causing my head to spin and ears to ring. My tail flashes about and Ruhan jumps in front of me. When my eyes open, a growl erupts from my throat, and Ruhan's eyes widen, fear, true fear, flashing in them quick enough for me to see. He stumbles back and sidles up to Omatri, his tail _tucked _underneath him.

"There they go!" howls Omatri as he takes off.

And with that, my power shoves out of me as I flee, the adrenaline flushing through me, causing the ground to dissipate beneath me, my paws sprinting so fast I couldn't feel the grass, couldn't see anything to the side, just what was in front of me.

_Was that it? Adrenaline? Or something worse? _

In a matter of seconds, it seemed, I was barring down on the lead wolf, Lartona, my jaws salivating with the thought of pinning him down. I launch myself high and land heavily down, gripping his shoulder blades as he yelps and collapses under my light weight. My eyes flash over to Ruhan who skids to a halt next to Omatri. I look down at Lartona, writhing under my paws, while I was barely putting any weight down to hold him. My power drains from me, I felt extremely lightheaded, barely able to hold my paws up, and I stagger off of Lartona, finding the ground again, and falling, my jaw quickly coming in contact with the hard-packed grass. My head swirls, jumbling my thoughts and senses. I could scent Ruhan next to me, him muzzle moving quickly, but I can't hear him. The heavy ringing in my ears came back, and everything went black.

I have the feeling I am alone in this dark place. I am at ease, the ringing ceased, and the pain gone; nothing spun. I could think again.

_That wasn't adrenaline…I felt a if I could do anything. I as aster than Lartona, the fastest wolf in the forest. Ruhan was afraid of me when I growled at him…I'm only a Chinai. That pain I felt was so powerful, it took over me…what happened. I vaguely remember anyway, except running at top speed…and…tackling Lartona…_

That's when, after my thoughts were calming, all of the noise flooded back to my ears, and I could feel the icy ground underneath me. My senses are coming back to me.

"Tivean! Tivean! He's not waking up, Omatri, what do I do?"

"Carry him!"

"But-"

And then I hear a nervous voice, and it was strange that it sounded scared.

"W-well, I didn't do anything to him… he- he attacked me."

_Lartona._

There's a loud snarl and I can almost picture Ruhan stepping in front of his brother.

"That doesn't matter, he's my Chinai and I have to help."

And then, I open my eyes. Everything was back to normal. When I lift my head, it feels heavy and a small part of me almost was convinced I was dreaming. But the relieved faces of Lartona, Ruhan and even Omatri brought me back to reality.

"Oh, you're okay!" Ruhan barks and wraps his tongue across my face. I place one paw in front of the other and stagger to a standing position.

"W-what happened?" I sputter.

"You ran at top speed and tackled Lartona! You were like a superhero! You-" and suddenly Ruhan stops abruptly. His eyes went out of focus as he glances at Omatri. Omatri's face was smooth, as Ruhan began to back up, fear spreading across his face once again.

"No-no, it c-can't be," and without saying another word, flees on the trail back to camp. I turn to Omatri for help, but he simply shrugs.

"I don't know, but I never saw Ruhan so scared in all his life. He's normally a very well-built wolf and isn't scared that often."

As Omatri begins to walk where Ruhan had fled, he turns to the three wolves.

"You'd best be getting back to your pack. We won't report anything to our pack, if you keep quiet on your part."

Lartona couldn't have nodded faster as he begins at a quick trot, leading the wolves away from us. I turn to Omatri as he nods to me and begins to walk back, him and I walking side by side back to camp. What had happened today was unexplainable…or was it what Sightre had said about his father talking about something good happening on this land? Could I have mistaken it, meaning that something _bad _was happening, and I was part of it?


	8. No Ordinary Powers

_**Chapter 7**_

**No Ordinary Powers**

On the way back, Omatri stops and sighs. I look at him nervously, and his head swishes to face mine. He turns to face me and sits down, motioning with his tail for me to do the same.

"Whatever Ruhan says to you, don't believe, okay? He's insane for now."

My heart thuds in my chest for a moment as we begin to walk again. Not listen to my caretaker? That's like telling a Kopa to fend for itself. I was nervous as we first set paw into the camp. Had Ruhan come in howling, and the wolves of the pack thought we hurt him? But we hadn't… they didn't know that. I watch the staring eyes of Coriola, Cloyan, Pentoga, but sigh in relief as Saxin, Ckarggo and Echo bounce excitedly to my side, Plutarch following just a bit slower and calmly.

"Hey!" Saxin barks excitedly, his tail wagging viciously. He play-bows and taps my nose but I shy away. "How'd it go?"

I push away all thought of what had actually happened.

"Great, we…uh… we scared them off." I tried to sound enthusiastic. It wasn't a total lie, that had happened. But when I turn to leave, I see Ckarggo cock his head and I cringe as I feel him take a step near me.

"Can I speak to you…Chinai to Chinai?"

The cringe dies away and I nod, walking slowly on paws I knew I couldn't trust over to the side of my den. I knew he was following and when I turn abruptly to face him, his face was crushed with sympathy.

"What _actually _happened?" and when the words were out, I knew I couldn't tell him. He's one of my closest friends in the pack, and yet, what had happened shouldn't be released until I know exactly what happened.

"Nothing, I… uh," _Think, Tivean! Think! _"I tackled the lead wolf of the party and they left."

"Well, that's amazing! Why are you ashamed?" Ckarggo whimpers, taking a step closer. I shy away and mutter, "I never said I was ashamed."

Ckarggo stands erect and sighs.

"I can see it, you don't have to say it."

And something inside me clicks again and without warning, I snap my head up to glare at him, the growl piercing from my throat.

"I never was ashamed of what happened!"

Just like Ruhan, Ckarggo stumbles backwards, landing on his back with fear emanating off of him. His tail curls over his back leg, and the power leaves me.

"I-I gotta go," and with that I pelt out of the PackGrounds, away from the criticizing wolves and piercing eyes. To a place where I could be alone.

One day, as usual, I took my walk, rage fuming in my fur, and end up at the stream.

When the soft sound of rushing water and the sharp tang of the swamp floods my senses, I am panting, my nose brushing through the brush to see the same river, same paw prints we embedded just this morning, same hollow.

…_just this morning… _I think and let out an exasperated sigh as I pad over to the prints. They are soft in the soaked sand from the night before. This morning I was normal, real to the wolf I…loved. I knew who I wanted to be, knew that I could be anything I wanted if I tried. I knew I could be with Eira forever, but now, with this newfound strength, I don't know. I sigh, and don't even feel the tear sliding from my eye until it drips into the top pad of the paw print. I gasp and back up.

I had done that (run away from the pack) often for the next four weeks. each day, my powers grew, and I was afraid for the sake of every wolf in KlarraMonna. Each day, I would go to the lake and let everything go. And Eira would be there, each day, watching as my inner monster grew, but never really knowing what was happening. She never saw my incredible speed or amazing strength. She just sat and comforted me, and lowly, I would calm. Every time I was aroud Eira, my power ceased, helping me. At one point, when my rage was too much to bear, I looked into the water. What I saw was not me, it was not Tivean. The wolf in the water had bloodred eyes and thick fangs. It looked evil and uncontrollable. I had backed away and calmed down. But that's what I was becoming: a monster.

"Feel like running away, too?" comes a soft voice behind me and whip around abruptly, just to face a calm, recognizable face. I beam, truly smiling for the first time today and walk slowly over to her. Her tail curls up over her head and her muzzle rubs across the side of my face. Her eyes shut, probably remembering the last time we had seen each other. I try, but fail. I pull away and look at her face, innocent, loving, and true. It makes me challenge her with me. My face twists with concern and she lowers her head, watching the grains of sand billow up when a gust of wind suddenly whips through our fur. My gray fur swirls like wildfire around me, surging my power and making it harder to control the real Tivean.

_What happened? One day, or less, but it all seemed like a dream, or something that we wanted to dream about. We had always wanted to be the real heroes, Saxin and I, to be loved and loyal, for wolves to call us when they were in trouble. It all seemed like a fantasy, something older wolves told us to make us fall asleep every night. I never realized that kind of power truly existed_….

I lift my head to see Eira licking a tuft of fur sticking awkwardly from her right paw. She glances up at me as I sigh of contentment.

"I'm really glad you came. I came to be alone, not knowing that I actually wanted you here until you were."

I stand up and rub her face. She almost purrs when she backs up. And just like always, Eira is quick to pick things up.

"What happened this time? Another run-in with Talcar?"

And when she says his name, aloud, the power comes back to me, almost sweeping me off my feet. I lower my head when I feel my mood change and I try not to speak.

_Think of Saxin, the fear in Ckarggo's and Ruhan's faces. Think of how it would make Eira feel. I'm not a monster, I'm plain-old Tivean. But was I fooling myself?_

I look up at Eira as compassionately as I could muster and shake my head.

"I'm not worried, there's nothing wrong. It's just me and my happiness."

Eira burst to life then, springing up and trotting to the lake, only to turn around once she was close. Since weeks had passed, Eira and I were closing in on the day we would become official Betas of our pack. Eira seemed worried every day, but I never knew why. Even though we were nearly the size of the average wolf, Eira still had that puppy-like self to her; everything was fun, there was an answer to everything.

"Good, so what do you want to do today. I've got all day if you'd like."

"I'd _like _that; I'm starting to think my pack doesn't care. I'm hoping they don't. How about we go down to the hunting grounds. The have a lot of good hiding places or large area to chase," I offer. Her eyes sparkle with ideas for the rest of the day and I pray she has enough to occupy my other…non-Tivean side.

She springs over the lake, sending a shower of sand billowing around her, making it look like she was appearing from a sandstorm, her shimmering white fur like the clouds from the sky. Her icy blue eyes pierce me with intensity, as if the clouds were summoning me away. But when the dust fades, she turns and bounds away, her slicked tail plumed behind her and I scamper over the lake and race clumsily to her side. She doesn't seem to mind as I take off away from her, and only a second later, I whip around. Without even trying, I had managed to run straightaway, close to the dark forest, which had taken Ruhan, Omatri and I a few minutes to get through a while back when I was a pup.

Suddenly, Eira's padding paws thunder from behind me, and I whip around to see her head peer from a bush, panting heavily to catch her breath. My heart skips a beat as I realize it felt, to me, like I had walked a few steps.

Gradually, she's at my side, panting while trying to spit words out.

"How did…how did you…I was all the…way over there, and you just…_whoosh! _And then…and then it took _all _my strength to get here as fast as I possibly could, and you…you didn't break a sweat."

"I guess I'm fast," I say absentmindedly as I step on a twig engulfed in the shadow. I look up to the sky, and realize with a jolt that it's nearly sundown and the sunlight was fading fast. I turn to Eira as the last of her breathing epidemic fades and she manages to pad to my side.

I walk slower than I usually would through the bracken and twigs because of Eira. If I were truly in a hurry, I would have been out by the fifth tree I passed. I walked delicately over each log, making sure not to snag my paw or fur on. Occasionally, I heard a loud thump, and once Eira had growled, "Mangy tree!"

"What?" I ask, stopping to look behind me as I see the white fur collapse behind me. "Bracken!"

I sigh.

"Hey, would be okay if I went on ahead for a second. I'll be right back."

"What?" she barks in exasperation, just regaining her paws as a log in front of her poses as a big threat. She lowers her head, looking at it glumly.

"Aw, c'mon it's a surprise for you…"

Her ears perk and she smiles.

"Alright." And with that I was running at top speed through it, weaving in between trees that almost duck out of the way, bracken that recoils, and leaves that disintegrate from nowhere. In no time, I arrive at the edge, watching as the meadow below the cliff I stand on glitters in the beautiful sunrays. I sigh; this is where I belong.

With a quick huff, I lower my head and lunge down the cliff, quick, swift lunges engulfing the cliff-side. The grass touching the underside of my paws didn't stop me from hitting the ground with such force that it indented two circular divots where my paws had made contact with the ground first. My back paws landed gracefully behind them, and I could almost feel my body being left behind as I skidded through the meadow, where I had my last…_ incident._

Halting in my tracks took a second, and when I manage, my back paws flip over my head and I was flipping over and over. Finally, I dig my claws into the soft dirt and the swirling stops.

After my head stops morphing everything green with the horizon and the blue sky finally quits trying to spin down to my paws rapidly, I begin to walk. But the scent hits my nose harder than anything, and it surprises me. I stagger back a step, and fall into an experienced crouch, tail down but not swiping the ground, head level with my shoulder, intensely focused eyes watching the herd that had seemingly appeared from thin air. Silver fur ruffling in the breeze furled away from the herd, causing their scent to flow towards me, and mine away from them. The scent of one (a crippled and very young water buffalo calf that had seemed too young to stand) caught my eye. I knew wolves like Ruhan would go for that, but I thought, with this power, it was worth a try to try it alone.

I hunker lower, assessing my options, good options. The young calf had no chance. If he and I were lucky, I would catch and kill it swiftly, so he wouldn't feel a thing. I'd be in and out without hassle. But I didn't think about what would happen if I failed.

My paw shift forward, anticipating my next move, until a scent fills my nose. My ears pin back defensively, claw clench the earth, as her nose crouches closer to mine.

"You don't actually think you could do this, do you?" Eira nearly whispers. I sigh, lowering my head so it hits the grassy earth.

"Yes, I think I can handle a small calf."

"No!" she barks, and I whip around, pinning her quickly, probably too quickly for her. I wish she just knew what I could do, or was testing. I turn to the herd, where several had begun to lift their heads. _Now or never, Tivean._

Quicker than light, I rocket towards the one I want. It turns towards me and it all seems to whip by. My claws extend, jaws preparing to attack, when its body jerks just slightly, and I tumble head over heels, dust swirling around me. Getting up, I shake off and charge, the power I shove my paws off with could destroy boulders into rubble. This time, I extend my claws towards its neck, blood pulsating in my ears rapidly. It ducks almost as quick as me and my claws scrape at air. I catch myself fast, and land on heated paws, turning with dark eyes to the calf. I run at it this time, no jumping, and running at it headlong from a few feet away. It looks up, finally true fear flashing in its eyes. _Gotcha! _but the unexpected happens, of course.

I run at it, not the super speed, but a wolf run, and just as I close in on it, the calf is swept off its feet, legs splayed out as it collapses. In its place is an enormous water buffalo, the largest one I'll ever see. I skid to an abrupt halt, looking up into its red eyes. His breath blows out into my face, like smoke from a fire. My anger from wanting to kill the calf is gone, all gone. Now, I fear for my life.

It bucks, and I take that time to run. But I run off into the hoofs of another, who backs into another. And when I thought it couldn't get worse, the entire herd turns to face me, and begins a stampede; I was in the front.

I twirl around and begin to sprint with as much force as I could muster, but they couldn't seem to go fast enough, like when I had run at the speed of light. They gain on me pretty quickly, and the first one, the large male pounds the earth with his massive hoofs so hard that I'm truly vibrating as I run. And that's when it really happens.

The first thing I feel is myself stop moving. Something that turns into a crushing feeling slams into my back, and I am thrust down to the floor. Hard, like brick, and it doesn't stop; because when one is lifted, another clamps down again and again. The thundering roars in my ears, my blood pouring from my back spills over the grass with the hoof marks, and the strange sounds they make as they blunder on is deafening. But above that, I heard a loud cracking sound, like lightning on my first day I had been born. I was fearful to the enormous ripple in the sky, sparks emanating from the sky, with its boom. Mother said it meant death in our wolf language, and I didn't blame her. The pain explodes from me, and it burns from my back, my howl fades, and the world around me turns pitch black. If it had been my first time, I would frightened.

_My happy place. Again._

It was better than being in the real world. Here, there was no pain, at all, no sounds and no colors. Here, I remember that I had stopped to think. Where was I? Was I going to live? What _actually _happened? And thinking back, I could answer all of those questions now. I was in my happy place, the place between life or death: stationary until the problem was resolved and my powers dimmed. I was going to live because of my strong powers. Actually, it was my - don't really know another way to put it - powers putting too much pressure on me. I waited for a moment, until I realized it was too long.

_Faze back! Faze back! _I thought rapidly, and without any difficulty I open my eyes. The first thing I spot is the enormous herd of buffalo lunging over something and halting in a pasture about ten feet from me. More and more continue, and that's when I realize that they are lunging over me! Yes, the herd is trampling me under their hoofs and there is no pain. Is that good? Or did that mean that my entire body is numb? I can't feel a thing, that's for sure, and soon enough, the final calf leaps over me. Without a single heave of exasperation, I flip over onto my stomach and stand up. Sides that were crushed with hoofs now breathe in and out clearly, paws that had curled mercilessly underneath my body now pad on the soft grass with ease. And I definitely heard my spine crack…but it was stronger than ever.

As I make my way over to Eira, her eyes are wide with shock and her paws can't reach me fast enough as her questions and barks flood out.

"Th-that was amazing! Impossible, more. How did you do that! A whole herd of those things trampled you! I-I mean that would have killed, or _at least _injured a wolf your size for life! But here you are, with not a scratch on you! If you were a normal wolf, you would have suffered for life with the injuries, but you just stand here like a superhero!"

Was that it? A superhero? She had said a_ normal _wolf would have suffered severe injuries or death, but I feel better than before, like I stretched all day and am ready to fight. My eyes can see farther, nose is so strong, I could scent the wolves on BirgitChima territory. My hearing allows me to hear Cloyan's conversation with Ruhan, calming him down while Ruhan whines. I could…

I shake my head violently. That is all imaginative. I can't smell that far, hear that far, see that well. I was an ordinary wolf in an ordinary pack with an ordinary friend. I wasn't a superhero, I wasn't magical. Just Tivean. _Just Tivean…_

I lower my head and begin to walk passed her to the slope into my territory. I would have made it if she hadn't said that one line.

"But you didn't even catch that calf."

I cringe, growling internally, but I could guess she could see the fire burning on my pelt. My claws dig into the soils, churning beneath me, I can't resist. I whip my head around, clearly my eyes having changed, and growl.

"I was attacked and caught off guard, 'kay? I could have done it if I was prepared. Do you know how hard it is, living with these wolves who constantly challenge themselves?"

Eira and I were nose to nose, my eyes glaring into hers and just barely watching the herd from the corner of my eye.

"Well, I could have done it."

I growl. "You could never have done it! I don't think you have the strength it takes to take down one of those animals single-handedly."

Nervous eyes stare into mine, knowing I would try anyway. Her attempts would fail and the fear that split across her face shows as she takes a step back.

"A wolf your size would be foolish to think those thoughts."

My eyes flit to the herd and my devious smile comes into play. It takes me a second to glance at her, and my speedy paws are off. I see my target instantly, and apparently so does Eira, because as I race closer and closer to the largest bull, she barks. The bull hears, but doesn't have time to react as I lunge up, paws outstretched and cling onto his shoulder blades, sinking my jaw into his neck vigorously. He lets out a loud, indescribable sound of fear and collapses to his side. I land with my jaws on his neck and baack paws scrabbling where his front hoofs were. They dug heavily into my side and I scramble over his fur to the back of him. Blood sprays and slowly seeps through the wound I am inflicting, and soon his fear turns to lethargy. In seconds, my growling sends bubbles of the blood on his fur popping into my eyes and it drips from my nose. When his head finally hit's the grass with a thud and his eyes shut, I pry my jaws unwillingly from his neck, two prominent teeth marks showing in the river of blood. I lick the remaining blood from my dripping nose, raising my head to see the shocked expression plastered to Eira's face. I smile, the same fangs that had felled this beast flashing towards her, with a single line: "I can do _anything._"


End file.
